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Emotional disorders (ED) such as anxiety, depression and somatization are extremely prevalent disorders that can affect an individual's quality of life and functionality. Primary Health Care (PHC) is the first place to identify most patients with these conditions. Mental health services in the Dominican Republic, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean in general, are unable to provide appropriate care for most people with mental disorders. Using evidence-based treatment protocols is also crucial to make progress in helping people with ED. The PsicAP project is a group intervention that uses a transdiagnostic approach and is grounded in cognitive-behavioral techniques. The program is implemented in 7 group sessions, each lasting for one and a half hours. The program has been shown to be effective in reducing clinical symptoms, dysfunction, and in improving quality of life. It is also a non-time-intensive, low-cost treatment that is helpful for addressing EDs in a PHC context. The objective is to bring psychological treatments into PHC facilities of Dominican Republic, making them more accessible for a larger amount of the population.

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Aim: To adapt and validate an existing instrument to assess the barriers to antiretroviral treatment adherence among individuals with hiv in Córdoba, Argentina. Materials and methods: The final sample population included 180 Argentinian people. The mean age of the participants was 40.61 (sd = 12.032) years and 82.8% were men. Various internal structure and reliability and validity studies with other variables were conducted on the study population (n = 180). Results: The results of confirmatory factor analysis were consistent with the factorial structure of the original study. However, to achieve this, items that had low factorial loads and were redundant had to be eliminated. Coefficient ω values of .833 on the Information sub-scale, .759 on the Motivation subscale, and .888 on the Behavioral Skills subscale were obtained. Significant correlations were determined between the results of adherence and barriers to treatment. Conclusion: The results suggest that the instrument can be used to assess the barriers to antiretroviral treatment adherence in Córdoba, Argentina. Although further research is warranted, these results are promising.

adaptar y validar un instrumento para evaluar barreras a la adherencia antirretroviral en personas que conviven con el vih en Córdoba (Argentina). Materiales y métodos: la muestra final incluyó 180 participantes argentinos. La media de edad fue de 40.61 (de = 12.032) y el 82.8 % fueron hombres. Sobre la muestra (n = 180) se efectuaron estudios de estructura interna, confiabilidad y validez con otras variables. Resultados: el análisis factorial confirmatorio arrojó resultados congruentes con la estructura factorial del estudio original, aunque para ello fue necesario eliminar ciertos ítems que presentaban bajas cargas factoriales y que pueden ser representados por otros ítems, debido a información redundante. Se obtuvieron coeficientes ω = 0.833 en la subescala información; ω = 0.759 en la subescala motivación, y ω = 0.888 en la subescala habilidades comportamentales. Se encontraron correlaciones significativas entre los resultados de adherencia al tratamiento y barreras al tratamiento. Conclusión: aunque se requieren de mayores investigaciones, los resultados son promisorios, sugieren que el instrumento puede usarse para evaluar barreras de la adherencia al tratamiento antirretroviral en Córdoba.

adaptar e validar um instrumento de barreiras à adesão anti-retroviral em pessoas vivendo com hivem Córdoba, Argentina. Materiais e métodos: A amostra final incluiu 180 participantes argentinos. A idade média era de 40,61 anos (sd = 12,032) e 82,8% eram homens. Com a amostra (n = 180) foram realizados estudos de estrutura interna, confiabilidade e validade com outras variáveis. Resultados: a análise fatorial confirma-tória apresentou resultados adequados com a estrutura fatorial do estudo original, embora para isso tenha sido necessário eliminar alguns itens que apresentavam baixas cargas fatoriais e poderiam ser representados por outros itens devido a informações redundantes. Os coeficientes ω = 0,833 foram obtidos na subescala informação; ω = 0,759 na subescala motivação, y ω = 0,888 na subescala competências comportamentais. Correlações significativas foram encontradas entre os resultados do adherencia al tratamiento e do barreiras à adesão ao tratamento. Conclusão: embora mais pesquisas sejam necessárias, os resultados são promissores, sugerindo que o instrumento pode ser usado para avaliar as barreiras à adesão ao tratamento anti-retroviral em Córdoba, Argentina.

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During the coronavirus outbreak, it was noted that pre-existing psychological illnesses worsened, and numerous research indicate that those with contamination-related obsessions and cleaning compulsions (C-OCD) may be more affected. Virtual Reality (VR) and other immersive technologies have shown to be effective for the treatment of disorders related to anxiety, thus showing their potential to transform OCD treatment by means of integrating virtual elements. VR exposure has shown benefits compared to live or imagined exposure, however, to be effective it must be able to elicit high emotional arousal in users. Based on this, the present work aimed to develop different virtual environments scenarios and evaluate their efficacy in generating an emotional response in people with C-OCD symptoms. Based on the literature review, two virtual scenarios were created (dirty public bathroom and unhygienic kitchen). Subsequently, two groups were then constituted: C-OCD group (n = 20, aged between 18 and 48 years) characterized by an obtained score of more than 13 points (cut-point) in the Yale-Brown Scale for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Y-BOCS) and by showing C-OCD symptoms when doing the structured interview (SCID-I), and a control group (n = 20, aged between 18 and 56 years), all participants were residents of the Dominican Republic. Exposure to the virtual environments generated high levels of state and subjective anxiety in both groups, although significantly higher in the C-OCD group. The results obtained indicate that the VR scenarios developed are suitable for eliciting emotional responses and, consequently, that they can be used to complement the treatment of C-OCD.

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Frictions between work and family life have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing negative consequences on the mental health and quality of life of workers. Without validated instruments, it is not possible to determine the impact of Work-Family and Family-Work conflict. To date, no studies have been conducted to provide evidence of the validity and reliability of The Survey Work-Home Interaction Nijmegen (SWING; 22 items) in the population of Argentine workers. The SWING was administered to 611 Argentine workers of both sexes (73.6% female) aged between 18 and 70 years (M = 35.33; SD = 9.16) selected from a non-probabilistic accidental sampling. The confirmatory factor analysis showed satisfactory fit indices of the original four-factor model (χ2 = 647.073, gl = 203, CFI = 0.93, GFI = 0.92, NFI = 0.90, TLI = 0.92, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.05, AIC = 557.9, BIC = 821.5). The level of reliability was acceptable (α between 0.68 and 0.86, ω = 0.79-0.89). The relationships of the subscale scores with the engagement and burnout variables were as expected according to previous studies. Having an instrument adequately adapted to the population of Argentine workers facilitates the development of studies aimed at evaluating the role of W-F or F-W interactions and their implications for health and productivity.

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Work stress is consistently linked with the deterioration of cognitive and mental health, limitations in everyday workplace performance, and an increased risk of developing diseases. A common thread binding these consequences appears to be stress-associated alterations in neuropsychological functions and affective domains, especially those reliant on hippocampal, prefrontal, and amygdala brain area. Although research broadly supports the claim that the practice of mindfulness meditation for the reduction of the consequences of stress and the promotion of health exert positive effects on workplaces, the precise neuropsychological benefits of Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in the context of organizations remain elusive. In this review, we will analyze the impairments imposed by stress on the brain areas and functions and the benefits of MBIs from a neuropsychological point of view. This is significant since there is a centrality of cognitive functions in core processes necessary for work achievements, such as emotion regulation, problem-solving, and learning. The promotion of wellbeing is a responsibility shared between workers and organizations. Developing healthy environments allows workers to exercise greater control over their work, face work challenges, work productively and develop their talent.

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Although virtual reality (VR) usage has become widespread in the last decade, its adoption has been hampered by experiences of user discomfort known as cybersickness. The present study, in line with the "2020 cybersickness R&D agenda", sought to provide a broad examination of the cybersickness phenomenon, assessing its pervasiveness, latent trajectories, impacts on the VR experience, and predictor variables. The study was composed of 92 participants living in the Dominican Republic with ages ranging from 18 to 52 years (M = 26.22), who experienced a 10-min VR immersion in two environments designed for psychotherapy. The results indicated that cybersickness was pervasive, with 65.2% of the participants experiencing it, and 23.9% severely. Additionally, the latent trajectories of cybersickness were positive and curvilinear, with large heterogeneity across individuals. Cybersickness also had a substantive negative impact on the user experience and the intentions to adopt the VR technology. Finally, motion sickness susceptibility, cognitive stress, and recent headaches uniquely predicted greater severity of cybersickness, while age was negatively related. These combined results highlight the critical role that cybersickness plays on the VR experience and underscore the importance of finding solutions to the problems, such as technological advancements or special usage protocols for the more susceptible individuals. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10055-022-00636-4.

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BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 disease has changed people's work and income. While recent evidence has documented the adverse impact of these changes on mental health outcomes, most research is focused on frontline healthcare workers and the reported association between income loss and mental health comes from high-income countries. In this study we examine the impact of changes in working conditions and income loss related to the COVID-19 lockdown on workers' mental health in Argentina. We also explore the role of psychological detachment from work and work-family interaction in mental health. METHODS: A total of 1049 participants aged between 18 and 65 who were working before the national lockdown in March 2020 were recruited using a national random telephone survey. Work conditions included: working at the usual workplace during the pandemic, working from home with flexible or fixed schedules, and being unemployed or unable to work due to the pandemic. Measures of financial hardship included income loss and self-reported financial problems related to the outbreak. Work-family interface included measures of work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict (FWC). Mental health outcomes included burnout, life satisfaction, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Data were collected in October 2020. RESULTS: Home-based telework under fixed schedules and unemployment impact negatively on mental health. Income loss and particularly self-reported financial problems were also associated with deterioration of mental health. More than half of the participants reported financial problems, and those who became unemployed during the pandemic experienced more often financial problems. Finally, psychological detachment from work positively influenced mental health; WFC and FWC were found to negatively impact on mental health. CONCLUSIONS: Countries' policies should focus on supporting workers facing economic hardships and unemployment to ameliorate the COVID-19' negative impact on mental health. Organisations can protect employees' mental health by actively encouraging psychological detachment from work and by help managing work-family interface. Longitudinal studies are needed to more thoroughly assess the long-term impact of the COVID-19-related changes in work and economic turndown on mental health issues.

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BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION: Psychological and physical well-being of health personnel has been significantly affected by COVID-19. Work overload and continuous exposure to positive COVID-19 cases have caused them fatigue, stress, anxiety, insomnia and other detriments. This research aims: 1) to analyze whether the use of cognitive reevaluation and emotional suppression strategies decreases and increases, respectively, stress levels of health personnel; 2) to quantify the impact of contact with patients with COVID-19 on stress levels of medical staff. METHOD: Emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reevaluation and emotional expression) and stress levels were evaluated in 155 Dominican physicians who were treating people infected with COVID-19 at the moment of the study (67.9% women and 32.1% men; mean age = 34.89; SD = 9.26). In addition, a questionnaire created by the researchers quantified the impact that contact with those infected had on their stress levels. RESULTS: Contact with patients with COVID-19 predicts increased use of emotion suppression strategies, although is not associated with the use of cognitive reevaluation. These findings lead to an even greater increase in stress on health care providers. CONCLUSIONS: Contextual contingencies demand immediate responses and may not allow health personnel to use cognitive re-evaluation strategies, leaning more towards emotion suppression. However, findings regarding high levels of stress require the implementation of intervention programs focused on the promotion of more functional emotion regulation strategies. Such programs may reduce current stress and prevent post-traumatic symptoms.

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A common method to collect information in the behavioral and health sciences is the self-report. However, the validity of self-reports is frequently threatened by response biases, particularly those associated with inconsistent responses to positively and negatively worded items of the same dimension, known as wording effects. Modeling strategies based on confirmatory factor analysis have traditionally been used to account for this response bias, but they have recently become under scrutiny due to their incorrect assumption of population homogeneity, inability to recover uncontaminated person scores or preserve structural validities, and their inherent ambiguity. Recently, two constrained factor mixture analysis (FMA) models have been proposed by Arias et al. (2020) and Steinmann et al. (2021) that can be used to identify and screen inconsistent response profiles. While these methods have shown promise, tests of their performance have been limited and they have not been directly compared. Thus the objective of the current study was to assess and compare their performance with data from the Dominican Republic of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (N = 632). Additionally, as this scale had not yet been studied for this population, another objective was to show how using constrained FMAs could help in the validation of mixed-worded scales. The results indicated that removing the inconsistent respondents identified by both FMAs (≈8%) reduced the amount of wording effects in the database. However, whereas the Steinmann et al. method only cleaned the data partially, the Arias et al. (2020) method was able to remove the great majority of the wording effects variance. Based on the screened data with the Arias et al. method, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the RSES for the Dominican population, and the results indicated that the scores had good validity and reliability properties. Given these findings, we recommend that researchers incorporate constrained FMAs into their toolbox and consider using them to screen out inconsistent respondents to mixed-worded scales.

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The difficulty in studying the relationship between stress and emotional regulation is due to the need to contemplate a dynamic perspective that analyzes the moderating role of stress. In fact, stress involves different phases or stages, and the neurocognitive processes involved in emotion regulation differ significantly between these phases. The period of anticipation of stressful events can be fundamental to understand the process of stress regulation; however, surprisingly few works have analyzed the differential activation of brain networks involved in cognitive regulation during the phases of stress and recovery. Taking this into consideration, within this study we propose to analyze in an integrated way the psychological and neurobiological processes during the phase of stress and recovery, with the aim of improving our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie successful and unsuccessful stress regulation. We consider that from the present review we contribute to achieve a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying successful and unsuccessful stress regulation would contribute to the improvement of prevention and treatment interventions for mental disorders.

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Fear to contamination is an easy-to-provoke, intense, hard-to-control, and extraordinarily persistent fear. A worsening of preexisting psychiatric disorders was observed during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) outbreak, and several studies suggest that those with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may be more affected than any other group of people. In the face of worsening OCD symptoms, there is a need for mental health professionals to provide the support needed not only to treat patients who still report symptoms, but also to improve relapse prevention. In this line, it is recommended to improve alternative strategies such as online consultations and digital psychiatry. The aim of this study is to develop augmented reality (AR) stimuli that are clinically relevant for patients with cleaning OCD and assess their efficiency to obtain emotionally significant responses. Four AR stimuli were developed: a plastic bag full of garbage, a piece of bread with mold, a dirty sports shoe, and a piece of rotten meat. All stimuli were shown to a clinical group (17 patients with cleaning OCD) and a control group (11 patients without OCD). Relevant results were the design of the AR stimuli. These stimuli were validated with the statistical difference in perceived anxiety in the meat stimuli between the clinical and control groups. Nevertheless, when looking at effect sizes, all stimuli present effect sizes from small (plastic bag) to large (meat), with both shoe and bread between small and medium effect sizes. These results are a valuable support for the clinical use of these AR stimuli in the treatment of cleaning OCD.

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The scientific and educational community is becoming increasingly aware of the impact of current academic working conditions on graduate students' mental health and how this is affecting scientific progress and ultimately society as a whole. Our study aimed to shed light on the work-related mental health issues affecting graduate students, providing a comprehensive research work including psychological and biological assessment. Our findings showed that a sizeable number of graduate student present anxiety, depression, or high burnout and that the time spent in academia plays an important role. The graduate student population displayed a specific work-related mental health issues profile with an altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and low levels of work engagement. Finally, graduate students were equally stressed, with less work engagement, and more anxious and depressed than general workers.

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Resumen: Procesos cognitivos tales como pensamientos negativos son importantes moduladores de la experiencia de dolor. El Inventario de Pensamientos Negativos en Respuesta al Dolor (INTRP) es una herramienta que permite evaluar los pensamientos automáticos negativos asociados a la experiencia dolorosa. El presente trabajo se enfoca en la validación del INTRP en población argentina. Se testearon varios modelos previos, llegando al mejor ajuste el modelo de cinco factores: 1) autoverbalizaciones negativas, 2) pensamientos negativos de apoyo social, 3) pensamientos de discapacidad, 5) pensamientos de falta de control y 5) pensamientos de autoinculpación. Este modelo posee la misma estructura factorial que la hallada en la versión española, el cual posee un nivel mayor de especificidad en la detección de cogniciones asociadas al dolor. Se puede concluir que el INTRP es una herramienta confiable para su uso en el ámbito clínico que permita enfocar la terapia psicológica de argentinos con cefaleas.

Abstract: Cognitive processes such as negative thoughts are important modulators of the pain experience. The Inventory of Negative Thoughts in Response to Pain (INTRP) is a tool that allows evaluating negative automatic thoughts associated with the painful experience. The present work focuses on the validation of the INTRP in the Argentine population. Several previous models were tested, reaching the best fit of the five-factor model: 1) negative self-verbalizations, 2) negative thoughts of social support, 3) thoughts of disability, 5) thoughts of lack of control and 5) thoughts of self-blame. This model has the same factor structure as that found in the Spanish version, which has a higher level of specificity in detecting cognitions associated with pain. It can be concluded that the INTRP is a reliable tool for use in the clinical setting that allows to focus the psychological therapy of Argentines with headaches.

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Abstract Research on the relationship between hypertension and variables linked to negative affectivity has given rise to divergent findings and differing interpretations. The main objective of this paper was therefore to shed light on the issue by analyzing measures of depression, anxiety and anger in adults suffering from hypertension (HTN). Based on a case-control design, a group of individuals suffering from HTN (n=50) was compared with a control group of the same number of cases, age and sex. In general, the HTN Group showed higher levels of depression in its somatic dimension and of trait anger in its temperament dimension. Individuals with HTN presented symptoms of irritability and loss of energy (depressive-somatic symptoms) and propensity to anger easily (temperament anger symptoms). It has been demonstrated in preceding researches that addressing these comorbid psychological factors is of importance in increase adherence to medical treatment in patients who have been diagnosed with hypertension or similar pathologies.

Resumen En la literatura científica se encuentra un gran número de controversias y resultados dispares a la hora de explicar la relación entre la hipertensión arterial y algunas variables vinculadas a la afectividad negativa, como la depresión, la ansiedad y la ira. Teniendo esto en cuenta, en la presente investigación se planteó como objetivo principal analizar medidas de ansiedad, depresión e ira en personas adultas que padecen de hipertensión arterial (HTA). A partir de un diseño de caso-control, se contrastaron dos grupos, uno conformado por personas con HTA (n = 50) y otro de control equiparado en número de casos, edad y sexo. A nivel general, el grupo de HTA mostró mayores niveles de depresión -en su dimensión somática- y de ira-rasgo -en su dimensión de temperamento-. Asimismo, las personas con HTA presentaron síntomas de irritabilidad y pérdida de energía -síntomas depresivo-somáticos-, además de que tendían a enojarse con facilidad o rápidamente -síntomas de temperamento de ira-. El abordaje de estos factores psicológicos comórbidos resulta de relevancia dado que en estudios precedentes ha demostrado aumentar la adherencia al tratamiento médico en pacientes que han sido diagnosticados con hipertensión o patologías similares.

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The main objective of this research was to investigate the psychometric properties of a Spanish-language version of the Attitudes toward Traffic Safety Scale (ATTS) for the assessment of risky driving attitudes among Spanish-speaking populations. Five hundred and fifty-eight drivers from Argentina participated in the study. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the ATTS three-factor structure: Attitude towards violations and speeding, attitude towards the careless driving of others and attitude towards drinking and driving, χ2(87) = 205.91, p < .001; χ2/df = 2.36; GFI = .94; CFI = .93; TLI = .91; RMSEA = .05; 90% CI [.04, .06]. A model with one higher-order factor (overall attitude toward risky driving) also fits the data. Reliability estimates were acceptable for the total scale (α = .81) and for all subscales (with α values ranging from .74 to .84), and concurrent validity was supported by theoretically expected correlations with self-reported risky driving behavior (r ranging from .27 to .45, ps < .01). Subsequent comparison between zero-order correlation and partial correlation (controlling for Driver Impression Management) between ATTS subscales and self-reported risky driving behavior revealed minor or no effects of social desirability bias. Implications for road safety intervention are discussed.

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Resumen En la investigación cualitativa, el análisis y la interpretación de los datos es una tarea de difícil manejo, incluso para los investigadores más experimentados. Si bien existen muchas técnicas disponibles para llevar a cabo el análisis de datos cualitativos, algunos autores relevantes del área proponen que es posible identificar un núcleo básico sin necesidad de hacer coincidir las distintas perspectivas del método cualitativo. Hacer foco en esta comunalidad permitirá hacer más comprensible la tarea de análisis para los investigadores noveles. El objetivo principal del presente trabajo es mostrar en qué consiste este núcleo básico de análisis, dando cuenta de los pasos necesarios para llevarlo a cabo. Además, se revisan técnicas concretas para la detección de temas, se presentan ejemplos haciendo uso del software Atlas.ti, y se muestran las formas posibles de presentación de los resultados.

Abstract Within the research process, the analysis of the data emerges as one of the most important steps. In qualitative research, the analysis of data is a difficult task for even the most experienced researchers and often brings up many doubts about the way to implement it. It is therefore necessary to have material that facilitates the analysis process. Even though there are numerous manuals that focus on the analysis of qualitative data, researchers often can be confused with the large number of names that this type of analysis receives (e.g. Thematic Analysis, Content Analysis) or with the various qualitative methods (e.g. Phenomenology, Grounded Theory) that are available. Each of these qualitative approaches presents a particular language to detail the research process, which makes it difficult to recognize common aspects shared by these methods. Recently, the American Psychological Association has emphasized the need to identify, within the various qualitative methods and procedures, shared standards for reporting this type of work. In agreement with the above, several qualitative researchers have pointed out that beyond the aforementioned diversity it is possible to identify a basic core with regard to qualitative analysis, without having to match the different perspectives of the qualitative method, such as Grounded Theory, Ethnography ore Phenomenology. Focusing on this communality will facilitate a simpler and clearer approach to the data analysis process. The analysis process mainly involves 1) data condensation, and 2) presentation of results. Following this line, the present manuscript aims to: (a) develop what the basic core of data analysis consists of, (b) show the necessary steps to carry out this analysis process, (c) review specific techniques for the detection of categories, (d) present examples using the Atlas.ti software, and (e) show the possible ways of presenting the results. Researchers have realized the importance of having methodological works that facilitate the analysis of qualitative data, and allow answering the question: What does qualitative analysis look like in practice?. The development of this type of work pretends on the one hand to facilitate the understanding of the process of qualitative data analysis and, on the other hand, serve to shape better and in a more standard way which was the data analysis procedure applied in the respective investigations. This material should be taken as a first step in the understanding of the process, and it should not be understood that the qualitative analysis is reduced only to what is developed in this article. For example, in the first level grouping step or first coding cycle, the researcher can make use of 25 different types or forms of coding (e.g., live coding). Even so, the development of works such as the present manuscript is intended to facilitate the understanding and reporting the process of qualitative data analysis. Beyond the name with which the researcher calls the analysis procedure carried out, it is relevant to report in his works the basic steps (i.e. Identification, First and Second Level of Categorization), and the specific techniques used to detect categories or topics (e.g. repetition or similarities). Likewise, it is advisable to follow the guidelines recently published by the APA for the publication of qualitative research. We hope that this material will be useful especially for new researchers who need an introductory text to carry out the qualitative data analysis.

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Suicide constitutes a public health problem that has a significant economic, social and psychological impact on a global scale. Recently, the American Psychological Association has indicated that suicide prevention should be a public health priority. Suicidal ideation appears as a key variable in suicide prevention. The objective of this research was to verify the adjustment of an explanatory model for suicidal ideation, which considers the effects of cognitive emotion regulation strategies, affectivity and hopelessness. An open mode on-line sample of 2,166 Argentine participants was used and a path analysis was carried out. The results make it possible to conclude that the model presents an optimal fit (χ2 = .10, p = .75, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .01) and predicts 42% of suicidal thoughts. The model proves to be invariant based on age and gender. In conclusion, there is an importance of reducing the use of automatic strategies, such as repetitive negative thoughts of ruminative type, and increasing the use of more controlled strategies, such as reinterpretation or planning.

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According to the World Health Organization, an unhealthy diet and insufficient physical activity are the leading global risks to health. Dietary behavior is a modifiable factor in cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. Furthermore, the fact that cardiovascular events and stress-related emotional disorders share a common epidemiology may indicate the existence of pathways linking these two diseases (Chauvet-Gelinier and Bonin, 2017). Psychosocial stress can lead to changes in dietary patterns (DP) and under chronic stress conditions, high caloric and hyperpalatable foods are preferred. The interplay between these two factors impacts on several biological pathways: for example, it can prime the hippocampus to produce a potentiated neuroinflammatory response, generating memory deficits; it can also affect gut microbiota composition, ultimately influencing behavior and brain health and creating a predisposition to the development of diseases such as obesity, CVD, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Though both cognition and emotion can be heavily affected by caloric intake, diet composition and stress, the molecular pathways involved remain elusive (Spencer et al., 2017). In this review, we describe the interplay between stress and DP at a molecular level, and how these factors relate to brain health and mental fitness. Finally, we show how these findings could give rise to novel therapeutic targets for chronic diseases.

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El burnout representa uno de los daños de carácter laboral y psicosocial más importantes en el mundo actual. En el presente trabajo se analiza la estructura factorial, la validez y la confiabilidad de una medida de burnout en Argentina, compuesta por las escalas del Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) y la subescala de despersonalzación correspondiente al Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services. Se utilizó una muestra de 1903 trabajadores del sector público, privado y organizaciones sin fines de lucro. Para evaluar la estructura interna se pusieron a prueba un total de seis modelos. Los resultados obtenidos por medio de análisis factorial confirmatorio, indican que un modelo de dos factores correlacionados, compuesto por las dimensiones corazón del burnout (agotamiento y cinismo), es el que posee un mejor ajuste a los datos. Por su parte, los análisis de confiabilidad evidenciaron una consistencia interna aceptable, como así también una adecuada fiabilidad de constructo para los factores. Finalmente, se obtuvieron correlaciones significativas y en la dirección esperada entre los factores del burnout y medidas de engagement y afecto, proporcionando así evidencia externa de validez concurrente para los puntajes de la escala. Globalmente, los resultados son satisfactorios y avalan el uso del MBI-GS en el contexto argentino, aunque se requiere de nuevos estudios que examinen otras propiedades psicométricas relevantes. Se discuten las implicaciones de este trabajo para la evaluación y la investigación sobre burnout en Argentina.

Over last decades increasing globalization, privatization and liberalization caused significant changes at work, including demands of learning new skills, the need to adopt new types of works, higher pressure of productivity and quality of work, and time pressure, which, in turn, increased rapidly work stress-related phenomenon such as burnout. To date, burnout has become one of the most active research areas in Occupational Health Psychology, spreading attention from researchers, practitioners and policymakers. Despite thousands of investigations on burnout, there is currently an on going debate surrounding its conceptualization and measurement, particularly the dimensions of burnout syndrome. In addition, although several studies have been conducted in Argentina, no study so far has demonstrated adequate psychometric properties of any measure of burnout that supports it use. Consequently, the current study sought to examine the internal structure, validity and reliability of a composite measure of burnout compounded by the three scales from Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) and the depersonalization subscale from Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services. A sample of 1903 Argentinean workers from public, private and non-profit sectors participated in the study. To ascertain the more appropriate factor structure of burnout several competing models were tested, specifically: (M1) A one-factor model that assumes burnout as a one-dimensional construct; (M2) A two-factor correlated model with only exhaustion and cynicism (core model); (M3) A two-factor correlated model with exhaustion and cynicism combined into a latent variable and professional inefficacy into another; (M4) A three-factor correlated model with cynicism and depersonalization collapsed into one factor (mental distance), exhaustion and professional inefficacy; (M5) A three-factor correlated model including exhaustion, cynicism and depersonalization; and (M6) A four-factor correlated model with exhaustion, cynicism, depersonalization and professional inefficacy as latent variables. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the two-factor correlated model including the core dimensions of burnout (exhaustion and cynicism) provided the best fit to the data. Reliability analyses demonstrated that both exhaustion and cynicism have good internal consistency and adequate construct reliability, which coefficient value supper .70. As expected, exhaustion and cynicism were significantly and negatively related with engagement and positive affect, and positively related with negative affect, supporting for concurrent validity. Overall, these results are in agreement with recent studies suggesting a more parsimonious conceptualization of burnout that includes only exhaustion and cynicism as more appropriate. We did not find support for professional inefficacy as a component of burnout. Thus, in accordance with some researchers, we suggest that professional inefficacy might be more appropriately conceptualized as a predictor or a consequence -or even both- rather than as a component of burnout. However, due to cross- sectional design used in this study, longitudinal study to test such contention is needed. Furthermore, the current findings support the use of exhaustion and cynicism subscales of MBI-GS for assessing burnout in Argentina, making available a useful tool for practitioners and researchers interested in prevention and treatment of job burnout. Nonetheless, it would be worthwhile to conduct further research in order to examine additional relevant psychometric properties such as test-retest reliability and predictive, convergent and discriminant validity. In addition, it would be important for future research to test the invariance of the two-factor model across different occupations, which might strengthen the findings obtained herein and provide evidence that support the validity of conclusions based on comparison between occupational groups. Finally, future investigation should also investigate the robustness of MBI-GS against social desirability bias.