Cardiovascular Responses of Women with Fibromyalgia to a Laboratory Stressor: Does Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Comorbidity Matter?

OBJECTIVES: This study compared cardiovascular responses to a laboratory trauma-unrelated stressor of two groups of women diagnosed with fibromyalgia (FM), one of them with comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with a group of healthy controls in order to detect the possible existence of differences linked to comorbidity. DESIGN: Case-controls. METHODS: Eighteen women diagnosed with FM and comorbid PTSD, 18 women diagnosed with FM and no PTSD, and 38 healthy women were exposed to an arithmetic task with harassment while blood pressure and heart rate were measured during task exposure and recovery. RESULTS: Although heart rate response evidenced a general blunted reactivity for both groups of FM patients, only those with comorbid PTSD presented lower levels of reactivity in terms of their systolic blood pressure response. In addition, systolic blood pressure response was sensitive to the presence of depression in both groups of FM patients and controls. Finally, although both groups of FM patients showed significantly slower rates of recovery, their final recovery state was not worse after twelve minutes of recording. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study point to comorbid PTSD as a significant contributor to the blunted cardiovascular reactivity observed in FM patients, which may be dependent to a great extent on depressive symptomatology. As some degree of cardiovascular response to stress is functional in that it mobilizes energy and triggers the necessary compensatory mechanisms to manage stressors, this study supports the well-recognized clinical strategies of detection and treatment of PTSD and concomitant depression in the management of FM.

Burnout and Quality of Life in Professionals Working in Nursing Homes: The Moderating Effect of Stereotypes.

Objective: This study aimed to analyse how stereotypes towards older people moderate the relationship between burnout and quality of life (QoL) of professionals working in nursing homes. Method: A total of 312 professionals were asked to complete questionnaires of burnout Maslach Burnout Inventory quality of Life (QPL-35) and aging stereotypes (CENVE). The moderation effects were tested using linear regression models. Results: A negative association was observed between burnout and QoL. It was also found a statistically significant moderator effect of the total score of stereotypes and the health stereotypes, besides a marginally statistically significant moderator effect for motivational stereotypes. The moderator effects were different for people with low and high negative stereotypes. QoL was more affected under conditions of high burnout, in which people with more negative stereotypes tended to present higher QoL than people with lower negative stereotypes. Conclusion: Highly burned-out professionals in nursing homes may avoid their negative feelings projecting them to residents through stereotypes, as a way of coping with burnout and increasing their QoL. However, this mechanism is an "aggressive reaction" and may have negative effects for both the older adult and the professional. The comprehension of these variables is essential for developing adequate intervention programs.

Older People's Personal Strengths During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Although several biopsychosocial variables could play an important role as risk and protective factors of mental health, COVID-19 outbreak studies among older people have seldom focused on protective factors. The purpose of this study was to analyze how older adults' personal strengths predict their well-being and emotional distress. METHOD: 783 Spanish people aged 60 and over completed a survey that included sociodemographic characteristics, perceived health, direct or indirect infection by COVID-19, resilience, gratitude, experiential avoidance, family functioning, emotional distress and well-being. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was performed. SEM invariance was also used to analyze whether there were differences between older people affected by COVID-19 and those not affected. RESULTS: The best model supports the mediation effect of resilience, gratitude and experiential avoidance on older people's well-being and emotional distress. Whether participants or relatives had been infected by the virus or not did not affect the results. CONCLUSIONS: Variables used as criteria in older adults are related to well-being and emotional distress, but only indirectly and mediated by resilience, gratitude and experiential avoidance. This confirms the importance of considering psychological strengths in older people's well-being. Interventions focused on these personal resources should be considered.

Las respuestas al confinamiento por la pandemia de la COVID-19 desde una perspectiva emocional: la función familiar como patrón diferencial en las personas mayores / Responses to confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic from an emotional perspective: family function as a differential pattern in older people

La familia puede ser un recurso fundamental en momentos de pérdidas y crisis vitales. La soledad y el aislamiento en personas mayores provocan consecuencias negativas para su salud mental. La presente investigación analiza el rol de la función familiar en la ansiedad y depresión experimentadas por personas mayores durante la pandemia ocasionada por el COVID-19. Participaron 882 adultos mayores de 60 años evaluándose características sociodemográficas y del coronavirus, salud, función familiar, evitación, depresión y ansiedad. Los datos sugieren un factor amortiguador de la función familiar sobre la ansiedad y depresión durante la pandemia. Además, no estar casado, ser mujer, mayor miedo al COVID-19, una peor salud autopercibida, mayor evitación y una peor función familiar se asociaba con mayores niveles de ansiedad. Mientras que mayor miedo al COVID-19, una peor salud autopercibida, mayor evitación y una peor función familiar se relacionaban con mayor depresión. Los resultados permiten señalar que la disfunción familiar es un factor predisponente para el desarrollo de problemas emocionales de ansiedad y depresión en personas mayores en situaciones potencialmente estresantes y de pérdida (AU)

Family can be an essential resource at times of loss or vital crisis. Loneliness and isolation in older adults might have serious negative consequences for their mental health. For this reason, this research aims to analyze the role of family function in the anxiety and depression experienced by older adults during the pandemic caused by COVID-19. Participants were 882 Spanish community dwelling adults over 60 years of age. Sociodemographic characteristics, characteristics related to the coronavirus, self-perceived health, family function, avoidance, depression and anxiety were analyzed. Data suggest a buffering effect of family function on anxiety and depression during the pandemic. Furthermore, being unmarried or a female, greater fear of COVID-19, worse self-perceived health, greater avoidance, and worse family function were associated with higher levels of anxiety. Likewise, greater fear of COVID-19, poorer self-perceived health, greater avoidance, and poorer family function, were associated with greater depression. These results point out that family dysfunction is a predisposing factor for the development of the emotional problems of anxiety and depression in older people in potentially stressful and loss situations (AU)

Generalized hypervigilance in fibromyalgia patients: an experimental analysis with the emotional Stroop paradigm.

OBJECTIVE: In recent years, a good deal of serious research has been carried out on the hypothesized presence of generalized hypervigilance to sensory stimulation in fibromyalgia (FM). However, there are no studies which, following an operationalization of generalized hypervigilance as a propensity to attend to any task-irrelevant stimuli presented, make use of interference paradigms as the most appropriate experimental models for its analysis. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis of generalized hypervigilance in FM using the emotional modification of the Stroop task and to explore the possible mediating role of anxiety. METHODS: To this end, 25 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 25 matched controls were shown 32 stimulus words equally distributed in four categories: fibromyalgia symptoms, arousing-negative (A-), arousing-positive (A+), and neutral (N). These words had been selected on the basis of the results of an independent study. In addition to the emotional Stroop task, measures of trait and state anxiety were included. RESULTS: The results showed the possible presence of a generalized hypervigilance response in fibromyalgia patients based on significant slowness in the color-naming. This effect was mediated by the degree of perceived unpleasantness of the A-stimuli. However, the expected mediation effect of anxiety was not found. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest the presence of a generalized hypervigilance response in FM patients that is not mediated by anxiety. Implications for the correct functioning of controlled self-regulatory processes in fibromyalgia and similar pathologies are discussed.

Consumo de alcohol y éxtasis (MDMA) en adolescentes y variables psicosociales implicadas. Un análisis descriptivo / Alcohol and "ectasy" (MDMA) consumption in adolescents and related psychosocial variables: a descriptive analysis

El presente estudio analiza la incidencia de consumo de alcohol y de éxtasis en adolescentes del sur de la Comunidad de Madrid. Asimismo, se estudian variables posiblemente asociadas como son las tendencias y actitudes hacia su consumo, el apoyo social, el rasgo de personalidad de búsqueda de sensaciones, y las conductas antisociales y delictivas. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto la problemática existente respecto al consumo de estas sustancias, observándose además diferencias en las variables estudiadas entre hombres y mujeres y un incremento en las actitudes positivas hacia estas drogas y su consumo con la edad

The present study assessed the prevalence of alcohol and «ecstasy» (MDMA) consumption in adolescents in a south area of the Community of Madrid. Attitudes toward these drugs, the adolescents' perceived social support, the personality trait of sensation seeking (linked to drug consumption), and antisocial and/or delinquent behaviours were also studied. The results revealed a problem in the youth population regarding the consumption of these substances. Differences in trends of consumption and the related variables assessed were observed among men and women. An increase in the positive attitude toward drugs with age was also observed

La motivación laboral de los jóvenes en su primer empleo / Labour motivation of young people in their first job

Este trabajo forma parte de un proyecto de investigación que pretende analizar los aspectos que en mayor medida motivan a los sujetos, que acceden por primera vez a un empleo. Estamos interesados en aquellos jóvenes que se han visto, por diversos motivos, en la necesidad de abandonas el sistema reglado y buscar como alternativa la Formación Profesional Ocupacional para poder así insertarse laboralmente en la sociedad. Basándonos en el supuesto de que existen factores inherentes al propio trabajo (intrínsecos) y factores ajenos al contexto laboral (extrínsecos), se lleva a cabo un estudio con alumnos de Formación Ocupacional de la provincia de Cádiz. Para conseguir nuestro objetivo, se aplicó un cuestionario sobre motivaciones psicosociales y se contrató con las respuestas emitidas a un ítem que refleja el grado de satisfacción del sujeto, llegándose así, a la conclusión de que son los aspectos extrínsecos del trabajo los que en mayor grado motivan a los sujetos utilizados que acceden a su primer puesto de trabajo a través de los programas de empleo y formación (AU)

This work is part of a wider project of investigation that tries to analyse the main aspects that motivate people who get their first job. We are specially interested in those young people who, for several reasons and in one moment of their lives, had to leave the regulated Educational System and get into Professional Occupational Training in order to enter labour society. On the basis of the supposition that there are factors inherent in the own job (intrinsic) and factors foreign to the labour context but where the consequences of the job become very important (extrinsic), it was made a study with pupils of the province of Cádiz. To get our aim, it was applied a test about psychosocial motivations and the results were contrasted with the answers given to an item that shows the personal degree of satisfaction, drawing the conclusion that the extrinsic aspects of job are the ones that most motivate people who get their first job through the employment and training programs (AU)

Formación del profesorado en prevención de alcoholismo. Análisis de una muestra de docentes de ESO / Teachers training in the prevention of alcoholisme. An analysis of a sample of teachers in Secondary Education

El presente trabajo recoge un análisis de las opiniones de los profesores de Secundaria con relación a la prevención escolar del consumo de alcohol y otras drogas. Tres aspectos fundamentales han sido objeto de este estudio: actitudes hacia la implicación de los centros educativos en tareas de prevención, nivel de capacitación del profesorado para asumir esta labor y sugerencias para la formación en prevención. Los datos han sido recogidos mediante la aplicación de una encuesta a 112 profesores de centros públicos y privados de la ciudad de Cádiz. Los resultados hacia su implicación en tareas de prevención, si bien existe un claro déficit de formación en este campo (AU)