Abdominal obesity (AO) is a serious public health threat due to its increasing prevalence and effect on the development of various non-communicable diseases. A multilevel analysis of the 2019 Demographic and Family Health Survey (ENDES in Spanish) using the Latin American Diabetes Association (ALAD in Spanish) cut-off points was carried out to evaluate the individual and contextual factors associated with AO in Peru. A total of 30,585 individuals 18 years and older were included in the analysis. The prevalence of AO among Peruvians in 2019 was 56.5%. Individuals of older age (aOR 4.64; 95% CI: 3.95-5.45), women (aOR 2.74; 95% CI: 2.33-3.23), individuals with a higher wealth index (aOR 2.81; 95% CI: 2.40-3.30) and having only secondary education (aOR 1.45; 95% CI: 1.21-1.75) showed increased odds of presenting AO compared to their peers. At a contextual level, only the Human Development Index (aOR 1.59; 95% CI: 1.17-2.16) was associated with the development of AO. A high Human Development Index is the contextual factor most associated with AO. It is necessary to formulate and implement new public health policies focused on these associated factors in order to reduce the prevalence of OA and prevent the excessive burden of associated noncommunicable diseases.

Emergency measures to continue university activities during COVID-19 have affected student performance and satisfaction, especially in regions with scarce resources and little experience in virtual education. Online education is a new process for most universities in the interior of Peru, where digital transformation was null or incipient, affecting the learning effectiveness. The current research is based on a survey conducted in February 2021 in order to evaluate students’ perception about the quality of emergency remote learning measures introduced during the pandemic in 2020. The survey was distributed through the institutional emails of students and the responses were collected anonymously, following a systematic sampling. A total of 1029 respondents representing 38 professional careers of public referent university of the Central Andes of Peru participated in this survey. The survey focused on 28 criteria linked to the didactic, technological and psycho-affective dimensions. It aimed to collect scientific evidence to propose improvements in this pedagogical transition process. Associations between the variables studied were determined with χ2 tests and Spearman correlations, and to determine the regression coefficients and Odds Ratios of the variables associated with the highest degree of satisfaction with the emergency virtual classes, logistic regression was used. Thirty percent of students showed dissatisfaction, perceiving problems in the design of class materials, feedback, e-learning support, development of practical and laboratory activities, and teaching performance; 25% were satisfied and 45% had a neutral perception. About 30% felt frustrated with their virtual classes. The highest OR for a higher degree of satisfaction fell on the impact of courses for professional training, student care services, support for online learning, and feedback mechanisms. To improve the quality of virtual learning in the post-pandemic period, the study recommends to transform the face-to-face model to a virtual or blended model, taking advantage of the variety of information, and communication to improve the quality of higher education.

Interpersonal partner violence (IPV) is a worldwide public health problem. As a result of IPV, victims report high rates of physical and behavioral disabilities. Help-seeking behaviors are key to obtaining support on facing and managing IPV. Cultural practices such as machismo, marianismo, and familismo are related to keeping quiet and remaining in an abusive relationship in Latinas. Difficulties in sharing emotions, setting interpersonal boundaries, and communicating needs are also behavioral barriers to seeking help in this population. All these factors are associated with social disconnection which reduces victims’ chances of obtaining support in risky situations. Although several programs have been developed for helping victims of IPV, more evidence on adaptions to particular cultural and interpersonal struggles faced by Latinas’ victims is needed. Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) proposes that therapeutic relationships based on intimacy can help victims of IPV to identify characteristics of those relationships that provide help when they need it. In this theoretical article, several FAP-based strategies aid therapists working with Latinas’ victims of IPV in strengthening clients’ interpersonal functioning and defeating cultural barriers when seeking help.

The presence of a significant number of people who do not intend to be vaccinated could negatively impact efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study sought to determine the prevalence of intention to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and associated sociodemographic and psychosocial factors in thirteen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). A total of 5510 people from 13 LAC countries participated. Frequencies, percentages, bivariate analyses using chi-square tests, and Poisson regression analysis with robust variance were used. The countries with the highest prevalence of intention to be vaccinated were Brazil (96.94%), Cuba (89.59%), Chile (84.59%), and Mexico (78.33%). On the other hand, the countries with the lowest prevalence were El Salvador (54.01%), Paraguay (55.87%), and Uruguay (56.40%). Prevalence is also reported according to some sociodemographic and health variables. It was found that country, male sex, hours exposed to information about COVID-19, university education, living in an urban area, belief in the animal origin of the virus, perceived likelihood of contracting COVID-19, perceived severity of COVID-19, and concern about infecting others significantly predicted intention to be vaccinated in the 13 LAC countries. While most countries had a high prevalence of intention to be vaccinated, there are still subgroups that have levels of intention that may be insufficient to predict the presence of community immunity. In this sense, knowing the estimates of vaccination intention rates, as well as the associated sociodemographic and psychological factors, can be used to plan actions and interventions that will inform about the safety and benefits of vaccines, as well as strengthen trust in health authorities.

Interpersonal partner violence (IPV) is a worldwide public health problem. As a result of IPV, victims report high rates of physical and behavioral disabilities. Help-seeking behaviors are key to obtaining support on facing and managing IPV. Cultural practices such as machismo, marianismo, and familismo are related to keeping quiet and remaining in an abusive relationship in Latinas. Difficulties in sharing emotions, setting interpersonal boundaries, and communicating needs are also behavioral barriers to seeking help in this population. All these factors are associated with social disconnection which reduces victims’ chances of obtaining support in risky situations. Although several programs have been developed for helping victims of IPV, more evidence on adaptions to particular cultural and interpersonal struggles faced by Latinas’ victims is needed. Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) proposes that therapeutic relationships based on intimacy can help victims of IPV to identify characteristics of those relationships that provide help when they need it. In this theoretical article, several FAP-based strategies aid therapists working with Latinas’ victims of IPV in strengthening clients’ interpersonal functioning and defeating cultural barriers when seeking help.

Eating disorders are among the most common clinical manifestations in children, and they are frequently connected with maternal psychopathological risk, internalizing/externalizing problems in children, and poor quality of mother–child feeding exchanges. During the COVID-19 lockdown, in person assessment and intervention were impeded due to the indications of maintaining interpersonal distancing and by limits to travel. Therefore, web-based methods were adopted to meet patients’ needs. In this study N = 278 participants completed the SCL-90/R and the CBCL to examine the psychopathological symptoms of mothers and children (age of the children = 24 months); moreover, the dyads were video-recorded during feeding and followed an online video-feedback based intervention. Maternal emotional state, interactive conflict, food refusal in children, and dyadic affective state all improved considerably, as did offspring internalizing/externalizing problems and mothers’ depression, anxiety, and obsession–compulsion symptoms. This study showed that video-feedback web-based intervention might be employed successfully to yield considerable beneficial effects. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

The present paper examines longitudinally how subjective perceptions about COVID-19, one’s community, and the government predict adherence to public health measures to reduce the spread of the virus. Using an international survey (N = 3040), we test how infection risk perception, trust in the governmental response and communications about COVID-19, conspiracy beliefs, social norms on distancing, tightness of culture, and community punishment predict various containment-related attitudes and behavior. Autoregressive analyses indicate that, at the personal level, personal hygiene behavior was predicted by personal infection risk perception. At social level, social distancing behaviors such as abstaining from face-to-face contact were predicted by perceived social norms. Support for behavioral mandates was predicted by confidence in the government and cultural tightness, whereas support for anti-lockdown protests was predicted by (lower) perceived clarity of communication about the virus. Results are discussed in light of policy implications and creating effective interventions. © 2022, The Author(s).

Understanding the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake is important to inform policy decisions and plan vaccination campaigns. The aims of this research were to: (1) explore the individual- and country-level determinants of intentions to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, and (2) examine worldwide variation in vaccination intentions. This cross-sectional online survey was conducted during the first wave of the pandemic, involving 6697 respondents across 20 countries. Results showed that 72.9% of participants reported positive intentions to be vaccinated against COVID-19, whereas 16.8% were undecided, and 10.3% reported they would not be vaccinated. At the individual level, prosociality was a significant positive predictor of vaccination intentions, whereas generic beliefs in conspiracy theories and religiosity were negative predictors. Country-level determinants, including cultural dimensions of individualism/collectivism and power distance, were not significant predictors of vaccination intentions. Altogether, this study identifies individual-level predictors that are common across multiple countries, provides further evidence on the importance of combating conspiracy theories, involving religious institutions in vaccination campaigns, and stimulating prosocial motives to encourage vaccine uptake.

Background and objective: The Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) is an instrument that measures the severity of anxiety due to COVID-19 or coronaphobia. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults are the most vulnerable age group; therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the CAS in this group. Materials and method: 274 Peruvian older adults participated (Mage = 67.86; SD = 6.34, 64.6% women). In addition to the CAS, the 2-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2), and 2-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-2) were applied. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to assess the factor structure of the CAS and Item Response Theory was used to analyze item characteristics. A sequence of hierarchical variance models was used to evaluate the measurement invariance of the CAS according to age. To assess reliability, Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α) and the omega coefficient (ω) were used. The correlations between the CAS score and the scores of the PHQ-2 and GAD-2 scales were calculated with Pearson's correlation coefficient (r). Results: The results of the CFA indicated that the unidimensional model of the CAS fitted the data adequately and showed very good reliability (α and ω ≥ .83). Likewise, all items provided high information and adequate discrimination, which allowed for better detection of average and high levels of coronaphobia in the older adult population. However, the CAS did not show evidence of being strictly invariant between older adults aged 60–65 years and 66–86 years. The CAS showed significant correlations with anxiety (r = .72; [95%CI: .66, .87] p < .01) and depression (r = .53; [95%CI: .43, .76] p < .01). Conclusion: The CAS in Spanish shows evidence of validity based on internal structure, convergent and divergent validity, as well as an adequate reliability estimate to assess coronaphobia in older adults. The CAS can be used to detect average and high levels of coronaphobia in the older adult population.

In recent years, young university students have experienced a greater concern for the body aspect that is related to having a slim figure. In this sense, it is important to have tools to measure the dissatisfaction they may have with their body appearance. The objective of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ-14). Specifically, to evaluate the internal structure of the BSQ-14, the internal consistency of the model, the evidence of discriminant validity based on the correlations of the average score of the BSQ-14 with a measure of mindfulness and the invariance of the BSQ-14 model, considering the variable of performance of physical activities. For hundred two young university students from Metropolitan Lima participated, with an average age of 20.05 years (SD = 18.18). A test battery including the BSQ-14 and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MASS-5) was administered. The results indicate that the one-dimensional structure of the BSQ-14 presented a good fit (x2 = 571,420; CFI = 0.962; SRMR = 0.051) and adequate reliability by the internal consistency method (ω = 0.962). Likewise, the BSQ-14 showed negative correlations with Mindfulness and body satisfaction. The BSQ-14 was shown to be invariant among university women who do or do not exercise. It is concluded that the study provides results that support the use of the BSQ-14 to measure body dissatisfaction with evidence of validity and reliability in a sample of young university students. of Metropolitan Lima.