Psicologia-Reflexao E Critica最新文献

Background: Empathy is an important psychological construct that plays a significant role in social interactions, mental health, and well-being. Despite the significance of empathy in psychological research and mental health, there is a lack of validated and concise measures available in Turkish.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the eight-item Empathy Quotient (EQ- 8) in Turkish university students, assessing its reliability, convergent validity, and factor structure. Therefore, we seek to determine its suitability for use in psychological and mental health research within Turkish-speaking populations.

Methods: We collected the data from two groups. The data of the first group (N = 198) was used to test the factor structure of the EQ- 8 by randomly splitting the data into two halves. The first half was used for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and the second half was used for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), while the second group (N = 47) was carried out to test the reliability of EQ- 8.

Results: The results of the EFA and CFA yielded a one-factor solution for the EQ- 8. The internal consistency reliability was found to be good in both subsamples. Test-retest reliability was established as.86. As to the convergent validity, the scores on EQ- 8 were significantly positively related to the scores of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire.

Conclusions: These results provide support for the Turkish version of the EQ- 8 as a psychometrically sound instrument for measuring empathy. These results contribute to cross-cultural research and the evaluation of interventions targeting empathy.

Background: Satisfaction with life, affects, and subjective happiness in military personnel are significantly correlated, as the experience of positive emotions, such as pride and camaraderie, often improves both satisfaction with life and the perception of happiness. On the other hand, negative effects, such as stress and anxiety, derived from deployment in high-risk environments, can bring down these indicators of well-being. Adaptability and resilience play a crucial role in moderating these affects, allowing military personnel to keep a good degree of emotional balance.

Objective: The objective of this study was to measure satisfaction with life, subjective happiness, and affects on Spanish military personnel. The initial hypothesis was that these variables are correlated and that affects can be used to predict satisfaction with life and subjective happiness.

Methods: This study examined the mutual relationships between satisfaction with life, affects, and subjective happiness in a sample of 416 Spanish military personnel (336 men 80.67% and 80 women 19.23%), with an average age of 35.56 years, using the satisfaction with life, affects, and subjective happiness scales.

Results: The results indicate that all the variables analyzed are correlated and together constitute subjective well-being. Network analysis indicates that the axial factor in this relationship is subjective happiness. It was found that both positive and negative affects can be used to predict satisfaction with life and subjective happiness.

Conclusion: This paper emphasizes the need to conduct more studies with military personnel, who are usually exposed to high levels of professional stress, and that these consider a wider range of variables. Understanding these dynamics is essential to design measures that promote mental health and holistic well-being in this population group. This study is the first empirical approach to models that argue for the mutual interaction of these constructs in psychological well-being, also emphasizing the need to work with military personnel in this regard, not only during their training but throughout their military career.

Background: Autonomy is a core element in many established management theories, consistently linked to positive employee outcomes. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid technological advancements have transformed workplace dynamics, particularly in the information technology (IT) sector in India, where hybrid work models have gained prominence. Despite this shift, no standardized measure exists to assess the autonomy experienced by employees in hybrid work environments, hindering deeper analysis and understanding.

Objective: This study aims to contextualize, develop, and validate the Autonomy in Hybrid Work Scale (AHWS) for the Indian context, providing a tool for researchers and practitioners to systematically examine the impact of autonomy in hybrid work.

Methods: A descriptive two-phase study was conducted following DeVellis's scale development framework. Phase 1 focused on conceptualizing and developing the construct through a comprehensive literature review, item generation, and assessment of content and face validity by experts, followed by a pilot test. Phase 2 encompassed the scale validation process, which included Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to identify the underlying factor structure and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to validate the model and assess its fit.

Results: The data collected from 313 IT employees working in Bengaluru, India, was analyzed to confirm data normality (below ± 2.58). The items showed a strong and positive correlation (r = .734) with the Work Design Questionnaire which indicated convergent validity. Discriminant validity was confirmed through Fornell-Larcker and Heterotrait-Monotrait (HTMT) criteria, with HTMT values below 0.90. The final analysis yielded an 18-item scale with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.825, comprising four distinct dimensions: (a) work location autonomy, (b) work time autonomy, (c) work scheduling autonomy, and (d) work decision autonomy.

Implications: The AHWS offers a valuable tool for both managers and academics to assess how different forms of autonomy influence employee well-being and productivity in hybrid work settings. It also addresses a gap in the literature, providing a foundation for further empirical research on autonomy in hybrid work models.

Background: The profile of caregivers focuses on socio-demographic variables (age, gender, kinship, and educational level). However, buffer variables (e.g., dysfunctional thoughts) and indicators of the impacts of caregiving (e.g., stress) are often overlooked.

Objective: The study aims to offer a comprehensive view of the profile of the family caregiver of people with dementia by considering aspects contemplated in theoretical explanatory models of care.

Methods: It was based on a cross-sectional design. Socio-demographic and care-related characteristics and variables of the consequences of caregiving and related buffers were evaluated for 40 family caregivers of people with dementia. The Short form of Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised (SPSI-R-25), the Leisure Time Satisfaction Survey (LTS), the Revised Scale for Caregiving Self-Efficacy (RSCSE), the Escala de Habilidades Sociales (EHS), the Psychosocial Support Questionnaire (PSQ), the Cuestionario de Pensamientos Disfuncionales (CPD), the Caregiver Burden Interview (CBI), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment-AGE (WHOQOL-AGE) were utilized. Descriptions of the variables and contrast tests (chi-square tests, t-tests, and two-factor ANOVAs) were made and used to compare the differences according to gender and kinship.

Results: Family caregivers are women, typically around 60 years old, wives or daughters, married, with primary/secondary education, who spend long hours caring with little support. They presented a low level of social and problem-solving skills, received little social support, had low self-efficacy and quality of life, highly dysfunctional thoughts, overload, depressive symptomatology, and stress. Significant differences were found according to kinship in educational level, employment status, hours per day dedicated to care time, and contemplating placing the person in a nursing home. Significant differences by kinship were also found in self-efficacy for responding to disruptive behaviors, perceived social support, and stress. Spouses have lower levels of this type of self-efficacy and have higher levels of stress but perceive greater social support. Males have higher levels of dysfunctional thoughts.

Conclusion: This study facilitates the identification of the specific needs of caregivers, to provide them with individualized interventions. Spouses and offspring present different needs and therefore interventions should be different.

Background: High levels of future anxiety in parents may not only affect their cognitive processes, and attitudes but also impact their parenting behaviour and relations with the children.

Objective: In the present study, we aimed to identify the differences in the intensity of parents' future anxiety across demographic variables and to assess demographic predictors of FA.

Methods: A group of 103 parents from Eastern Poland (71% mothers and 29% fathers) completed the Future Anxiety Scale. Their children were aged 3-16 years. The 10 aspects of Future Anxiety were compared across the five parent demographic variables of gender, age, level of education, place of living (rural vs. urban), and number of children.

Results: The results show that parents' education level, gender, and the number of children in the family were predictors of FA. Parents' age and place of living did not significantly predict FA. Mothers reported significantly higher levels of anxiety than fathers, for both general future anxiety and helplessness. Parents who had only one child reported higher levels of helplessness. However, it was the parents' level of education that showed the greatest number of significant differences. Parents with only secondary education reported higher average scores on seven (70%) of the 10 aspects of future anxiety. The differences were significant for general future anxiety, health and wellbeing, restricted freedom, the meaning of life, pessimism, helplessness, and isolation.

Conclusion: These findings indicated the possible groups of parents who may need support and identified potential areas of intervention.

Objective: To analyze the relationship between empathy and its domains (i.e., affective and cognitive) and stress in medical students.

Methods: An online cross-sectional study with 543 medical students as respondents divided in three groups: pre-clinical cycle (n = 173), clinical cycle (n = 197), and internship (n = 173). The participants completed the sociodemographic questionnaire, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and the Perceived stress scale.

Results: The participants were mostly female (71.5%) with an average age of 23.54 (± 4.54) years old. Medical students in the clinical cycle, when compared to the ones in their pre-clinical cycle and internship, showed higher stress levels. Pre-clinical students presented higher levels of total empathy and its affective domain. The highest levels of empathy, especially affective empathy, were associated with higher stress levels in all three groups. Regarding cognitive empathy, there was no observed association with stress among the groups.

Conclusions: The levels of empathy and its affective domain correlated significantly with the stress indicators among students of different cycles (i.e., pre-clinical, clinical cycle, and internship).

Background: Limited research has been conducted on the relationship between inflammatory markers and psychological status in medical staff fighting COVID-19.

Objective: This article examines the psychological and inflammatory conditions of medical personnel working on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19.

Methods: A total of 102 clinical staff members were included in this study. All subjects received the Symptom Checklist-90 questionnaire (SCL-90) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian questionnaires for assessing different mental symptoms. The levels of various inflammatory markers, including IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-a, and IFN-γ, along with GDNF, were evaluated.

Results: Spearman correlation analysis showed that the levels of IL-6 were positively associated with the anxiety score (Spearman's rho = .230, p = .021), obsessive-compulsive symptoms (Spearman's rho = .201, p = .042). The levels of IL-8 were negatively associated with the anxiety score (Spearman's rho = -.223, p = .028), obsessive-compulsive symptoms (Spearman's rho = -.252, p = .012), hyperarousal (Spearman's rho = -.221, p = .028). The levels of TNF-α were positively associated with the anxiety score (Spearman's rho = .201, p = .045), obsessive-compulsive symptoms (Spearman's rho = .222, p = .035).

Conclusion: Generally, our results suggested that IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α might play a role in the development of psychological symptoms among medical staff.

Background: Dieting is a common practice around the world. People who wish to lose weight, improve their eating habits, or reach a desired level of health often diet. Rumination, a pattern of repetitive negative thoughts and emotions, is typically found when individuals diet. The current study aimed to identify physical and psychological differences between maladaptive and normative eating behaviors in a sample from Lebanon.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was adopted for the current study. It occurred between June and July 2022. Four hundred participants aged 18 and above participated. The research team used a snowball sampling method to recruit volunteers from all governorates of Lebanon.

Results: Beta values were used to compare independent variables in order to infer those that have the strongest effect on the dependent ones. Higher Body Mass Index, and belonging to cluster 3 (restriction of food intake and rumination) and cluster 1 (maladaptive eating behavior and rumination) compared to cluster 2 (normative eating behavior and thought) were significantly related to more dieting. Higher physical activity index and belonging to cluster 3 (restriction of food intake and rumination) and cluster 1 (maladaptive eating behavior and rumination) compared to cluster 2 (normative eating behavior and thought) were significantly related to higher levels of orthorexia nervosa tendencies.

Conclusions: The current research demonstrated a relationship between Body Mass Index, physical activity, rumination, and maladaptive eating patterns including restriction of food intake, dieting, and orthorexia nervosa. These results can help with identifying physical and psychological factors associated with maladaptive eating patterns, as well as guide interventions within the Lebanese population.

Background: Social support is relevant to studying well-being, quality of life, and health during aging, particularly in people over 50. Therefore, brief instruments that allow its measurement within the clinical evaluation and research processes are necessary. The ENRICH Social Support Scale (ESSI) is a brief and easy-to-use instrument that measures the perception of social support; however, its psychometric properties in people over 50 in the Chilean context have yet to be tested.

Method: This study had a non-experimental, longitudinal panel design in which a sample of 303 people over 50 years of age (M = 55.14 years, SD = 5.19; 52% women) were administered a survey incorporating sociodemographic variables, the ESSI and the Newsom Social Negativity Scale. 277 participants completed the follow-up survey (M = 56.75 years, SD = 5.15; 54% women). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), structural equation modeling (SEM), invariance analysis, and internal consistency tests were performed to determine the psychometric properties.

Results: The six items from the scale load in a single-factor model obtained an excellent fit to the data and reliability coefficients (α = 0.902; ω = 0.904). The SEM analysis evidenced an inverse correlation between the ESSI and Newsom's social negativity scale, demonstrating evidence of construct validity. Furthermore, in the sex invariance analyses, the scalar level was reached, implying that the items' meanings are the same for men and women. Finally, the residual level was reached in the temporal invariance analyses, which means that the scale items are consistent in time.

Conclusions: The ESSI is a reliable and valid tool to be used in the Chilean context both in the clinical setting and in research on people over 50. The evidence obtained supports its usability to appropriately measure the perception of social support, which is relevant considering that it has been associated with reports of higher quality of life and lower mortality and morbidity during aging.