Socio-emotional strengths against psychopathology and suicidal ideation in fear of COVID-19.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused a global health crisis. It also leads to different types of psychosocial problems in society as a result of preventive health measures and the disease itself. Among others, psychopathological symptoms and suicide behaviors have increased. The PsicorecurSOS COVID-19 online protocol was designed. At baseline, 1020 Spanish adults were assessed, during confinement, for sociodemographics, fear of COVID-19, anxious-depressive symptoms, covitality, and suicidal ideation. Reliability, descriptive, and frequency analyses were carried out, and the computer tool SPSS PROCESS was used to carry out a conditional process analysis (model 59). A total of 595 participants were included (58.30% response rate from baseline; mean age = 37.18 [SD = 13.30]; 72.44% female). Regarding suicidal ideation, 12% responded differently to "never," 19.3% exceeded the cutoff point on the anxiety scale, and 24% on the depression scale. Moderate mediation analysis explained 27% of the variance in suicidal ideation. In addition, the indirect effect of moderate mediation was significant (b = -.004, SE = .002 with the presence of covitality; and b = .01, SE = .003 absence of covitality). Sex and age did not influence the overall outcome of the model. The data from this study can serve as a starting point for generating social and health treatment initiatives based on self-examination of anxiety-depressive symptoms and increasing socio-emotional skills in order to prevent and alleviate the psychosocial effects of the pandemic.

Fear of COVID-19 and emotional dysfunction problems: Intrusive, avoidance and hyperarousal stress as key mediators.

BACKGROUND: There is mounting empirical evidence of the detrimental effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak on mental health. Previous research has underscored the effects of similar destabilizing situations such as war, natural disasters or other pandemics on acute stress levels which have been shown to exacerbate current and future psychopathological symptoms. AIM: To explore the role of acute stress responses (intrusive, avoidance and hyperarousal) as mediators in the association between fear of COVID-19 and emotional dysfunction-related problems: Depression, agoraphobia, panic, obsessive-compulsive, generalized anxiety, social anxiety and health anxiety symptoms. METHODS: A sample of 439 participants from a university community in Spain (age: mean ± SD: 36.64 ± 13.37; 73.1% females) completed several measures assessing their fear of COVID-19, acute stress responses and emotional dysfunction syndromes through an online survey. Data collection was carried out from the start of home confinement in Spain until May 4, 2020, coinciding with initial de-escalation measures. Processing of the dataset included descriptive and frequency analyses, Mann-Whitney U Test of intergroup comparisons and path analysis for direct and indirect effects. This is an observational, descriptive-correlational and cross-sectional study. RESULTS: The prevalence of clinical symptoms in our sample, reported since the beginning of the pandemic, reached 31.44%. The female group presented higher scores although the effect size was small. Overall, the participants who exceeded the clinical cut-off points in emotional problems showed higher levels of fear of COVID-19 and of cognitive, motor and psychophysiological responses of acute stress, unlike the group with normative scores. In addition, the results show significant mediated effects of hyperarousal stress among fear of COVID-19 and emotional dysfunction psychopathology. However, the clinical syndromes most related to the consequences of the pandemic (e.g., social contact avoidance or frequent hand washing), such as agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, were in fact predicted directly by fear of COVID-19 and/or the acute stress response associated with the pandemic and had a greater predictive power. CONCLUSION: The present study illustrates a clearer picture of the role of acute stress on several forms of psychopathology during the COVID-19 crisis and home confinement.

Short Form of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist-Youth Self-Report (PSC-17-Y): Spanish Validation Study.

BACKGROUND: The short form, 17-item version of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist-Youth Self-Report (PSC-17-Y) is a validated measure that assesses psychosocial problems overall (OVR) and in 3 major psychopathological domains (internalizing, externalizing, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), taking 5-10 min to complete. Prior research has established sound psychometric properties of the PSC-17-Y for English speakers. OBJECTIVE: This study extends psychometric evidence for the acceptability of the PSC-17-Y in a large sample of Spanish adolescents, providing proof of its reliability and structure, convergent and discriminant validity, and longitudinal and gender invariance. METHODS: Data were collected on 5430 adolescents, aged 12-18 years, who filled out the PSC-17-Y twice during 2018-2019 (7-month interval). We calculated the Cronbach alpha and the McDonald omega coefficients to test reliability, the Pearson correlation for convergent (distress) and criterion validity (well-being, quality of life, and socioemotional skills), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for structure validity, and multigroup and longitudinal measurement invariance analysis for longitudinal and gender stability. RESULTS: Within structural analysis for the PSC-17-Y, CFA supported a correlated 3-factor solution, which was also invariant longitudinally and across gender. All 3 subscales showed evidence of reliability, with coefficients near or above .70. Moreover, scores of PSC-17-Y subscales were positively related with convergent measures and negatively related with criterion measures. Normative data for the PSC-17-Y are presented in the form of percentiles (75th and 90th). CONCLUSIONS: This work provides the first evidence of the reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the PSC-17-Y administered over the internet to assess mental health problems among adolescents, maintaining the same domains as the long version.

Differences in emotional state and autistic symptoms before and during confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a global crisis that has affected the emotional health of both the general and the clinical population. METHOD: The present study aimed to analyze the differences between the emotional states of a group of individuals with ASD and a neurotypical group both during and after the COVID-19 confinement. The study also examined the changes in autistic symptoms between a group of individuals with ASD who were confined during the COVID-19 pandemic and another group of individuals with ASD who were studied prior to the COVID-19 pandemic period. RESULTS: Higher levels of aggression, irritability, hyperactivity and impulsivity, lack of attention and anxiety, among other symptoms, were found in individuals with ASD during confinement when compared to healthy controls (p < .05; p < .01). Higher levels of repetitive, restrictive, and stereotyped behaviors were also found in pandemic-era ASD individuals when compared to the group of individuals with ASD who were assessed prior to the pandemic (p < .01). CONCLUSIONS: the confinement is related to an increase in symptomatology and dysfunctional behaviours characteristic of ASD, and therefore it is necessary to implement actions that help to reduce this impact now, as well as in future crisis events.

Evidencia de validez diagnóstica de la Escala DetectaWeb-Malestar

The objective of this study was to examine the evidence of diagnostic validity of the DetectaWeb-Distress scale in a sample of 244 children and adolescents from clinical (n = 51) and community (n = 193) settings, all of them with the diagnostic process completed. The results indicated that the DetectaWeb-Distress scale is a useful measure from a diagnostic point of view, as it discriminates between people with emotional disorders such as anxiety and depressive disorders and suicidality, and those without, presenting ROC values of approximately .80 and good sensitivity and specificity for detecting the main emotional disorders. The DetectaWeb-Distress Scale is a valid measure and diagnostically useful for detecting and identifying children and adolescents with anxiety disorders, depression and suicidality, with the advantage that it is a short measure, specifically developed for Internet use, especially relevant in the era of COVID-19. Así mismo, el suicidio constituye también un tema de especial relevancia (Sánchez-Teruel, Muela-Martínez y García-León (2018), el cual se encuentra entre las tres causas principales de mortalidad entre los adolescentes (World Health Organization, 2014).

DetectaWeb-Distress Scale: A Global and Multidimensional Web-Based Screener for Emotional Disorder Symptoms in Children and Adolescents.

Emotional disorder symptoms are highly prevalent and a common cause of disability among children and adolescents. Screening and early detection are needed to identify those who need help and to improve treatment outcomes. Nowadays, especially with the arrival of the COVID-19 outbreak, assessment is increasingly conducted online, resulting in the need for brief online screening measures. The aim of the current study was to examine the reliability and different sources of validity evidence of a new web-based screening questionnaire for emotional disorder symptoms, the DetectaWeb-Distress Scale, which assesses mood (major depression and dysthymic disorder), anxiety (separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, social phobia, panic disorder/agoraphobia, and specific phobia), obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidality (suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts), and global distress. A total of 1,499 participants (aged 8-18) completed the DetectaWeb-Distress Scale and specific questionnaires for emotional disorder symptoms, suicidal behaviors, and well-being through a web-based survey. Results indicated that a structural model of 10 correlated factors fits reasonably better in comparison to the remaining models; measurement invariance for age and gender; good internal consistency (McDonald's ω ranging from 0.65 to 0.94); and significant positive correlation with other measures of anxiety, depression, PTSD, or distress, and negative correlation with well-being measures, displaying support for convergent-discriminant validity. We also found that girls scored higher than boys on most of the subscales, and children had higher scores for social anxiety, specific phobia, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, whereas adolescents scored higher on depressive symptoms, suicidality, and generalized anxiety, but the effect sizes were small to medium for all comparisons. The DetectaWeb-Distress Scale is a valid, innovative, and useful online tool for the screening and evaluation of preventive programs for mental health in children and adolescents.