[Quality of life and personality in older people university students.] / Calidad de vida y personalidad en las personas mayores que estudian en la universidad.

OBJECTIVE: Universities of the older population are centres of higher education where older people can acquire new knowledge, focusing on promoting the active participation of retired people. Participation in these universities enables learning and people who attend consider their health to be better because they are more active and motivated to learn, and have a positive self-image. This research aimed to explore on the one hand whether people attending this type of university have a good quality of life. On the other hand, what personality factors could be related to a good quality of life in these older adult students. METHODS: Quality of life was measured with the World Health Organization Quality of Lif-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire in 54 older university students in Spain. In addition, students' personality types were also assessed using Eysenck's Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised EPQ-R questionnaire. Finally, the relationship between the different dimensions of personality and quality of life was studied. The statistical analyses performed were, in addition to the mean and standard deviation, the T-test to compare independent means as well as Pearson's correlations to correlate the dimensions of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism. RESULTS: This study showed that the University of the older population is an experience that is linked to a good quality of life with WHOQOL-BREF scores above 60. Also a high level of neuroticism and psychoticism are factors related to a poor quality of life (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: From this study we can conclude that students at the University for Older Adults have, on the one hand, a high level of satisfaction with their overall quality of life, their general health, their physical health status, their psychological health status, their social relationships and their environment. On the other hand, they have a specific personal profile that scores relatively low in neuroticism and within the average population in extraversion and psychoticism.

OBJETIVO: Las universidades de las personas mayores son centros de educación superior en los que dichas personas pueden adquirir nuevos conocimientos, promoviéndose así la participación activa de las personas retiradas. La participación en estas universidades permite el aprendizaje y las personas que acuden consideran que su salud es mejor porque son más activas y tienen la motivación de aprender, favoreciendo una imagen positiva de sí mismos. Esta investigación tuvo como objetivo explorar por un lado si las personas que asistían a este tipo de universidad presentaban una buena calidad de vida. Por otro lado, qué factores de personalidad podían estar relacionados con una buena calidad de vida en estos estudiantes. METODOS: La calidad de vida se midió con el cuestionario World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) en 54 estudiantes universitarios mayores de España. Además, también se evaluaron los tipos de personalidad de los estudiantes utilizando el cuestionario Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) de Eysenck. Finalmente, se estudió la relación entre las diferentes dimensiones de la personalidad y la calidad de vida. Los análisis estadísticos que se realizaron fueron la media y desviación estándar por un lado y la prueba T para comparar las medias independientes, además de las correlaciones de Pearson para correlacionar las dimensiones de la extraversión, el neuroticismo y el psicoticismo. RESULTADOS: Este estudio demostró que la Universidad de las personas mayores es una experiencia que está ligada a una buena calidad de vida, siendo las puntuaciones de WHOQOL-BREF superiores a 60. También un alto nivel de neuroticismo y psicoticismo son factores relacionados con una mala calidad de vida (p<0,05). CONCLUSIONES: De este estudio se puede concluir que los estudiantes de la Universidad para mayores tienen, por un lado, un alto nivel de satisfacción con su calidad de vida global, su salud general, su estado de salud física, su estado de salud psicológica, sus relaciones sociales y su entorno. Por otra parte, tienen un perfil personal específico que obtiene una puntuación relativamente baja en neuroticismo y dentro de la población media en extraversión y psicoticismo.

Meta-Analysis of Prevalence of Depression in Dental Students during COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background and Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has a negative impact on the mental health of the population in general, and in college students in particular. Dental students have seen their teaching altered and their clinical practice reduced. This study was aimed at conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies reporting levels of depression among dental students during the COVID-19 and estimating the pooled prevalence of depression. Materials and Methods: Medline via PubMed and other databases were searched for studies on the prevalence of depression in dental undergraduates, published from 1 December 2019 to 1 September 2021. The pooled proportions of depression were calculated with random effects models. Results: We identified 13 studies from 9 countries. The pooled prevalence of depression in dental students was 37% (95% CI: 26-49%) with no variation due to gender, response rate or methodological quality. We only found a significantly higher prevalence of depression in studies from Asia compared to Europe and America. Conclusions: Our results suggest that dental students are suffering from higher levels of depression compared with the general population or other college students during the COVID-19 pandemic, with differences across regions. Measures to improve mental health and wellbeing of dental students during the pandemic are needed.

Prevalence of Anxiety in Dental Students during the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the psychological state of university students has been a cause for concern. In particular, odontology students have experienced symptoms of anxiety due to the closure of universities and the suspension of clinical training. METHODS: Medline via PubMed was searched for studies on the prevalence of anxiety in dental undergraduates, published from 1 December 2019 to 1 August 2021. RESULTS: A total of fifteen studies were included in this review. Our results show a prevalence of anxiety of 35% reported by dental students, which was independent of gender, response rate or methodological quality. The only significant finding was a lower prevalence of anxiety in studies located in Europe compared to those located in other continents. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest dental students are experiencing significant levels of anxiety during this COVID-19 pandemic and that there seem to be differences between students from different regions of the world. Therefore, it is important to help dental students psychologically as the pandemic situation continues.

Design and Validation of a Scale for Measuring Well-Being of Children in Lockdown (WCL).

The objective of this study was to create and validate an instrument to measure the well-being of children in lockdown. As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the interest of maintaining social distancing, millions of people have been confined to their homes, including children, who have been withdrawn from school and barely able to leave their homes. Thus, it would be useful to evaluate, from a holistic perspective, the well-being of children under these challenging circumstances. The participants were 1,046 children, 48.7% of which were boys and 50.7% girls, recruited in the Basque Country (Northern Spain). The scale was answered by their parents. The survey, entitled "Well-being of Children in Lockdown" (WCL), is composed of six subscales: Emotions, Playful and creative activities, Education, Addictions, Routine, and Physical Activity. Exploratory factor analyses indicate that all the reliability indices were acceptable. The survey demonstrated adequate reliability (alpha = 0.804). We were thus able to confirm the validity of this simple instrument for evaluating the well-being of children aged between 4 and 12 years in lockdown situations. The WCL can be regarded as a useful tool to evaluate the well-being of children in lockdown situations.

Exploring Children's Social and Emotional Representations of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

COVID-19, a new emerging infectious disease (EID), has spread throughout the world, including Europe. Spain, in particular, has witnessed a significant outbreak of the pandemic. All classes have been canceled, and the government has declared a state of emergency, ordering the lockdown and confinement of the entire population. All children in the country have been confined to their homes since March 13 and are not allowed to leave at any time. This population is thus facing the harshest restrictions. Given the vulnerable situation of children, the aim of this research is to understand how they represent and emotionally cope with the COVID-19 crisis. A free association exercise elicited by the word "coronavirus" was completed by 228 children (age range: 3-12 years) from the North of Spain. To analyze the content, we employed the Reinert method with Iramuteq software for lexical analysis. The results revealed that children represent the COVID-19 as an enemy that is being fought by the doctors. Children are afraid and worried about catching the virus, but mainly because they think they can infect their grandparents, and this makes them feel guilty. Moreover, the lockdown situation has produced conflicting emotions in the children. On the one hand, they are scared, nervous, lonely, sad, bored, and angry, but they also feel safe, calm, and happy with their families. These results indicate the need for governments to also consider children in their management of the current situation by placing greater emphasis on social and inclusive policies to help alleviate the possible effects that they may suffer as a consequence of the pandemic and the lockdown. In short, there is a need to address the psychological, educational, social, health, and well-being needs of children.

Exploring the Social and Emotional Representations Used by the Elderly to Deal With the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Spain has become one of the European epicenters of coronavirus (COVID-19), a virus that particularly affects the elderly, since this group accounts for the majority of hospitalized cases and has the highest mortality rates. Therefore, the aim of this research is to understand how elderly people represent and emotionally cope with COVID-19 during the days when the pandemic emerged in Spain. Using a qualitative methodology, a free association exercise elicited by the word "COVID-19" was completed by 115 participants (age range: 60-85 years) from the North of Spain. Lexical analysis was used to analyze the content. The results revealed that the government and the mass media are criticized for failing to communicate a clear message, and for giving out information that is both insufficient and contradictory. However, participants are clear that it is essential to follow the guidelines of the scientists and doctors, which are represented as credible sources. However, when the state of alarm and the lockdown of all citizens was declared, most of the participants represented the risk as being associated with the elderly and the pandemic became something that might also affect their families. Due to these circumstances, negative emotions appear such as fear, nervousness, uncertainty, restlessness, and insecurity. Feelings of solitude and loneliness also emerged, and these are represented as being linked to death. These results indicate the need for governments to manage the current situation with the elderly by placing greater emphasis on social and inclusive policies to help alleviate the possible effects of the pandemic and the lockdown.