Teachers at risk: Depressive symptoms, emotional intelligence, and burnout during COVID-19.

Background: Previous studies indicated that depressive symptoms are common among teachers due to job stress and difficulty in managing emotions. The aim of this research was to determine the levels of depressive symptomatology in a sample of secondary school teachers who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyze the relationships with their levels of burnout and emotional intelligence. Methods: The study involved 430 secondary school teachers residing in Madrid (Spain) who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants' age was between 25 and 60 (M = 41.40; SD = 11.07) and the gender distribution was 53.72% men and 46.28% women. We used the Spanish version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey (MBI-ES) and the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS-24). Results: The main results indicated that teachers presented high means of depressive symptomatology, with women obtaining higher scores than men. Significant relationships were also observed between the levels of depressive symptomatology and the dimensions of burnout and emotional intelligence. Finally, the three dimensions of emotional intelligence would contribute to the depressive symptomatology of teachers, while of the burnout dimensions only Emotional Exhaustion would make a contribution. Conclusion: The possible consequences of depressive symptomatology in teachers during the pandemic are discussed, as well as the need to enhance protective factors such as emotional intelligence and to study burnout levels.

Effectiveness of a program for the development of socio-emotional competences in people admitted to a penitentiary center.

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness of a program for the development of social and emotional competences and self-esteem among a group of inmates at a penitentiary center, as well as to determine the possible correlation between the variables of the program (social skills, emotional competences, and self-esteem). The objective was to equip inmates with social competences in emotional regulation strategies that would be useful to them in the penitentiary center and, at the same time, facilitate their future social inclusion. In order to measure the pre- and post- treatment variables, the Social Skills Scale, the Perceived Emotional Intelligence Scale (TMMS-24), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) were administered to a group of 51 inmates in a penitentiary center. The experimental group consisted of 29 inmates, with 21 forming the control group. The pretest-posttest ANOVAs showed that the program led to a significant (p < 0.01) increase in: (1) positive social behaviors; (2) emotional competences; (3) self-esteem. Positive correlations were also observed between the three variables. The results suggest the importance of implementing programs for the promotion of the socio-emotional development of people incarcerated in penitentiary centers.