Reference intervals of biochemical parameters in Chilean adults.

Background: Establishing reference intervals (RIs) in clinical laboratories is essential, as these can vary due to inter-individual variability as well as the analytical methods used. The purpose of this study was to determine RIs for markers and ratios biochemical in apparently healthy Chilean adults. Methods: A sample of 1,143 data was selected from the Universidad Católica de Temuco, Clinical Laboratory database, La Araucanía Region, Chile, which were analysed by sex. The Tukey's Fences was used to detect outliers and the RIs were established using the non-parametric method.

La porosidad de la relación barrio-cárcel: un estudio de caso en dos prisiones chilenas / The porosity of the neighbourhood-prison relationship: a case study of two Chilean prisons / A porosidade da relação bairro-prisão: um estudo de caso de duas prisões chilenas

Las cárceles han llamado la atención de la sociología al ser una institución dentro de la sociedad y, al mismo tiempo, comportarse como una sociedad en sí misma, con sus propios códigos y normas. Sykes la llamó "sociedad de los cautivos", por cuanto asume que los procesos de adaptación tenían que ver con aspectos endógenos de la propia prisión y no con características exógenas, como las trayectorias de las personas encarceladas o los barrios de los que provienen. Esta investigación, realizada en dos cárceles chilenas usando una metodología cualitativa, analizó cómo se conforman los roles entre internos, para explorar la vigencia de lo señalado por Sykes. Nuestros hallazgos sugieren que: (i) las relaciones entre internos se caracterizan por fuertes asimetrías de poder y (ii) los roles y funciones están marcados por lo que ocurre en los barrios de proveniencia, lo que sugiere que en el siglo XXI barrio y cárcel tienen fronteras porosas. Finalmente, discutimos las implicancias de esta porosidad para repensar los programas de reinserción.

Prisons have attracted the attention of sociology for being an institution within society and, at the same time, behaving as a society in its own right, with its own codes and norms. Sykes called it a "society of captives", as he assumes that the adaptation processes had to do with endogenous aspects of the prison itself and not with exogenous characteristics, such as the trajectories of the incarcerated persons or the neighbourhoods they come from. This research, carried out in two Chilean prisons using a qualitative methodology, analysed how roles are shaped among inmates, in order to explore the validity of Sykes' findings. Our findings suggest that: (a) relationships between inmates are characterised by strong power asymmetries and (b) roles and functions are shaped by what happens in the neighbourhoods of origin, suggesting that in the 21st century, neighbourhood and prison have porous boundaries. Finally, we discuss the implications of this porosity for rethinking reintegration programmes.

As prisões têm atraído a atenção da sociologia por serem uma instituição dentro da sociedade e, ao mesmo tempo, comportaremse como uma sociedade em si mesma, com códigos e normas próprios. Sykes a chamou "sociedade de cativos", pois supõe que os processos de adaptação têm a ver com aspectos endógenos da própria prisão e não com características exógenas, como as trajetórias das pessoas encarceradas ou os bairros de onde elas vêm. Nesta pesquisa, realizada em duas prisões chilenas, foi utilizada uma metodologia qualitativa e analisado como os papéis são moldados entre os detentos, a fim de explorar a validade das conclusões de Sykes. Nossos resultados sugerem que as relações entre os detentos sejam caracterizadas por fortes assimetrias de poder e que os papéis e as funções sejam moldados pelo que acontece nos bairros de origem, o que leva à hipótese de que, no século 21, o bairro e a prisão tenham sido fronteiras porosas. Por fim, discutimos as implicações dessa porosidade para repensar os programas de reintegração.

Prison officers in Latin America: quality of life, working conditions and main difficulties.

Although the number of empirical studies on prison inmates in Latin America has increased in recent years, an aspect that still remains little studied is the situation of prison workers. This article analyzes the labor situation of prison officers in Latin America, and considers their working conditions, quality of life and the problems that affect them, in a region marked by precarious, overcrowded and violent prison systems. To do so, a systematic review of articles published in Spanish or Portuguese on the Scielo platform between 2000-2021 was carried out. Our main findings show that prison officers suffer from significant levels of stress and work overload; and carry out their work in poor conditions; with long working hours; performing an invisible and socially undervalued job; with important risks of negative consequences for their physical and mental health. Finally, some implications of the findings and some lines of intervention are discussed.

Funcionarios penitenciarios en América Latina: calidad de vida, condiciones laborales y principales problemáticas / Prison officers in Latin America: quality of life, working conditions and main difficulties

Aunque los estudios empíricos sobre personas privadas de libertad en América Latina han venido creciendo en los últimosaños, un aspecto que aún permanece poco estudiado lo constituyen los trabajadores penitenciarios. El presente artículo analizala situación laboral de los funcionarios penitenciarios en Latinoamérica, ahondando en sus condiciones de trabajo, su calidad devida y las problemáticas que les afectan, dentro de una región marcada por sistemas carcelarios precarios, hacinados y violentos.Para ello, se realizó una revisión sistemática de artículos publicados en español o portugués en la plataforma Scielo, entre losaños 2000-2021.Nuestros principales hallazgos muestran una relación con funcionarios penitenciarios con importantes niveles de estrés y sobrecarga laboral, que desempeñan su trabajo en condiciones precarias, con jornadas de trabajo largas, un trabajo invisible y pocovalorado socialmente, y arrastrando importantes riesgos de consecuencias negativas en su salud física y mental. Finalmente, se discuten algunas implicaciones de los hallazgos y las líneas de intervención. (AU)

Although the number of empirical studies on prison inmates in Latin America has increased in recent years, an aspect thatstill remains little studied is the situation of prison workers. This article analyzes the labor situation of prison officers inLatin America, and considers their working conditions, quality of life and the problems that affect them, in a region markedby precarious, overcrowded and violent prison systems. To do so, a systematic review of articles published in Spanish orPortuguese on the Scielo platform between 2000-2021 was carried out.Our main findings show that prison officers suffer from significant levels of stress and work overload; and carry out theirwork in poor conditions; with long working hours; performing an invisible and socially undervalued job; with importantrisks of negative consequences for their physical and mental health. Finally, some implications of the findings and some lines of intervention are discussed. (AU)

Inmate-on-Inmate Prison Violence in Chile: The Importance of the Institutional Context and Proper Supervision.

In this article, using a quantitative approach, we analyze interpersonal, inmate-on-inmate physical violence in Chilean prisons, using administrative records on collective violence, provided by the Prison Service for the period 2014 to 2017. Violence behind bars is problematic as it threatens inmates' fundamental rights such as personal safety but also because it undermines efforts to maintain an environment prone to inmates' social reintegration. Our data showed a sharp increase in the number of collective fights, from 808 in 2014 to more than 4,000 in 2017. In terms of the predictors, being in a private prisons as well as a greater ratio of inmates to guards were associated with increased collective fights for each of the 4 years we examined. Two additional predictors were statistically significant, yet only for 2017: A higher average criminal involvement score and a smaller ratio between inmates/staff were both associated with increased violence. Despite the fact that prison violence has not yet reached the scale or level of brutality that can be seen in other parts of the region (i.e., Brazil), there are signs of concern that authorities should take into account, particularly the rapid increase in collective fights in just a 4-year period and the recent social turmoil that has taken place in Chile, whose impact cannot be seen yet from these data. In terms of recommendations, we suggest that authorities should prioritize efforts in four areas: (a) to gather better data on prison violence, including some reliable data on importation variables (age, criminal history, and nationality); (b) to provide prison guards with tools to anticipate and mediate conflicts; (c) to revise and possibly modify the way prisoners are transferred to different facilities, and (d) in sum, to promote prison environments that can be more legitimate and supportive to inmates' reintegration.

Associations of maternal and adolescent religiosity and spirituality with adolescent alcohol use in Chile: Implications for social work practice among Chilean social workers.

To inform social work practice with adolescents who may consume alcohol, we examined if alcohol use among Chilean adolescents varied as a function of their mothers' and their own religiosity and spirituality. Data were from 787 Chilean adolescents and their mothers. Adolescent spirituality was a protective factor against more deleterious alcohol use. Parental monitoring and alcohol using opportunities mediated the associations. The practice of religious behaviors by themselves without meaningful faith were not associated with alcohol use among adolescents. Implications for social work practice are discussed.

Ecological factors and adolescent marijuana use: results of a prospective study in Santiago, Chile.

PURPOSE: Despite the growing evidence that ecological factors contribute to substance use, the relationship of ecological factors and illicit drugs such as marijuana use is not well understood, particularly among adolescents in Latin America. Guided by social disorganization and social stress theories, we prospectively examined the association of disaggregated neighborhood characteristics with marijuana use among adolescents in Santiago, Chile, and tested if these relationships varied by sex. METHODS: Data for this study are from 725 community-dwelling adolescents participating in the Santiago Longitudinal Study, a study of substance using behaviors among urban adolescents in Santiago, Chile. Adolescents completed a two-hour interviewer administered questionnaire with questions about drug use and factors related to drug using behaviors. RESULTS: As the neighborhood levels of drug availability at baseline increased, but not crime or noxious environment, adolescents had higher odds of occasions of marijuana use at follow up, approximately 2 years later (odds ratio [OR] = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.16-1.66), even after controlling for the study's covariates. No interactions by sex were significant. DISCUSSION: The findings suggest that "poverty", "crime", and "drug problems" may not be synonyms and thus can be understood discretely. As Latin American countries re-examine their drug policies, especially those concerning decriminalizing marijuana use, the findings suggest that attempts to reduce adolescent marijuana use in disadvantaged neighborhoods may do best if efforts are concentrated on specific features of the "substance abuse environment".

The association of recreational space with youth smoking in low-socioeconomic status neighborhoods in Santiago, Chile.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the relationship of neighborhood recreational space with youth smoking in mid- to low-income areas in the capital of Chile, Santiago. METHODS: A unique data set of adolescents (n = 779, mean age = 14, 51 % male) provided home addresses of study participants which were geocoded and mapped. Satellite maps of neighborhoods were used to identify open spaces for recreational use (e.g., soccer fields and plazas). Thiessen polygons were generated to associate study participants with the nearest available open space using ArcGIS. Regression models, with smoking as a dependent variable, were estimated in which age, sex, family socioeconomic status, peer substance usage, neighborhood crime, and accessibility of open space were covariates. RESULTS: The results show that residential proximity to recreational space was significantly and inversely associated with tobacco consumption among female, but not male, adolescents. Age and neighborhood crime were both positively associated with tobacco consumption among both male and female adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that recreational spaces in proximity to residences may have a positive impact on reducing adolescents' inclination to consume tobacco. The relationship of the accessibility to such spaces with smoking appears to vary by adolescents' sex.

Alcohol consumption among Chilean adolescents: Examining individual, peer, parenting and environmental factors.

AIMS: This study examined whether adolescents from Santiago, Chile who had never drunk alcohol differed from those who had drunk alcohol but who had never experienced an alcohol-related problem, as well as from those who had drunk and who had experienced at least one alcohol-related problem on a number of variables from four domains - individual, peers, parenting, and environmental. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Community based sample. PARTICIPANTS: 909 adolescents from Santiago, Chile. MEASUREMENTS: Data were analyzed with multinomial logistic regression to compare adolescents who had never drunk alcohol (non-drinkers) with i) those that had drunk but who had experienced no alcohol-related problems (non-problematic drinkers) and ii) those who had drunk alcohol and had experienced at least one alcohol-related problem (problematic drinkers). The analyses included individual, peer, parenting, and environmental factors while controlling for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. FINDINGS: Compared to non-drinkers, both non-problematic and problematic drinkers were older, reported having more friends who drank alcohol, greater exposure to alcohol ads, lower levels of parental monitoring, and more risk-taking behaviors. In addition, problematic drinkers placed less importance on religious faith to make daily life decisions and had higher perceptions of neighborhood crime than non-drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention programs aimed at decreasing problematic drinking could benefit from drawing upon adolescents' spiritual sources of strength, reinforcing parental tools to monitor their adolescents, and improving environmental and neighborhood conditions.

[Neighborhood Systematic Social Observation; The Case of Chile and its Perspectives for Social Work.] / La Observación Sistemática de Vecindarios: El caso de Chile y sus perspectivas para Trabajo Social.

The study of neighborhood characteristics and their effects on individuals has become an area of increasing attention by scholars from various disciplines in developed countries. Although there are various methods to study neighborhoods and their impact on human populations, one of the most used is the Systematic Social Observation -Observación Sistemática de Vecindarios (OSV), in Spanish-because it allows the collection of information about various features of the physical, social, environmental and economic characteristics of neighborhoods. The purpose of this article is to (i) briefly present some research on neighborhood effects influential in the U.S., ii) describe how they Systematic Social Observation was designed and implemented in the city of Santiago, Chile, iii) discuss some facilitators and obstacles of the implementation process and, finally iv) list possible contributions and limitations this approach would offer the profession of social work in Chile.