COVID-19's impact on worker stress in human service organizations: The mediating role of inclusion.

Human service organizations faced extraordinary challenges due to COVID-19. Despite the increasing interest and research in this new scenario, there has been limited discussion about the impact of COVID-19 on workers, the challenges they faced, and the resulting stress. This study aimed to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on work-related stress and the mediating role of inclusion among workers in human service organizations in Chile during the pandemic. The research design was quantitative and involved a sample of 173 workers from civil society organizations who were contacted during the pandemic. The study confirmed that individuals most affected by the pandemic experienced higher levels of work-related stress, and that inclusion played a negative mediating role in this relationship. This article highlights the importance of relationships, decision-making processes, and access to information in reducing stress in post-COVID scenarios for organizations that traditionally handle crises.

COVID-19 and client violence toward healthcare social workers in Chile.

This article discusses the violence perpetrated by clients against social workers who provided services to COVID-19 patients and their families in Chilean hospitals during the initial peak of the disease in the country. In this way, this becomes the first study to analyze client violence toward social workers in the health crisis generated by the pandemic. The results indicate that the presence of aggressions from clients is high and social workers' coping strategies are passive. Finally, the urgent call for prevention and the need for research are presented.

Polymorphism of glutathione S-transferase (GST) variants and its effect on distribution of urinary arsenic species in people exposed to low inorganic arsenic in tap water: an exploratory study.

Glutathione S-tranferases (GST) are multigenic enzymes that have been associated with arsenic metabolism. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between polymorphic variants of GST and urinary concentration of arsenic species in people exposed to low levels of arsenic. A cross-sectional study among 66 nonoccupationally exposed subjects, living in the city of Antofagasta, Chile. Polymorphic variants were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and arsenic species was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The effect of GST variants on arsenic concentration was evaluated using univariate and covariate-adjusted regressions. For both GSTT1 and GSTM1 there were no significant differences in detected arsenic relative species between carriers of the active and null polymorphic variants. There was nondefinitive evidence that polymorphic variants of GST play a role in arsenic metabolism in sample of the Chilean subjects studied.