ResumenInformation

In some areas of Spain, health services and professionals working in the front line against the Sars-Cov-2 virus have been widely overwhelmed at all levels. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the level of work engagement of Spanish nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was carried out. The sample consisted of 510 active nurses from all over Spain, without age exclusion, who voluntarily accepted to participate in the study. Work engagement was assessed with the 9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) questionnaire, through an online questionnaire and non-probabilistic snowball sampling. The results showed a mean age of 45.9 years (SD = 10.7 years), most of them women (78.1%), and 58.5% were in primary care. The mean score for the UWES-9 questionnaire was 4.6 points (SD = 1.35). The categorical regression analysis performed revealed an R2 value of 0.75 and a significance of p < 0.01 in the sex, type of unit, and training variables. The Spanish nurses in the sample present high levels of work engagement in all dimensions in general, although the lowest mean scores are found in the vigor dimension, among men, and nurses working in hospital and critical units.

Background: The emergence of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which causes COVID-19 disease, has been a major public health challenge and an increase in the feeling of uncertainty of the population, who is also experiencing an increase in levels of anxiety and fear regarding the COVID-19 disease. Objective: The objective of the study was the construct and criterion validation of the Escala de evaluación de la Ansiedad y MIedo a COVID-19 (AMICO, for its acronym in Spanish) to measure both constructs in the general Spanish population Methods: Descriptive study of psychometric validation. A field study was carried out to execute univariate and bivariate analyses, in addition to the exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis of the scale. For the criteria validity study, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory ( STAI) and sensitivity and specificity values were calculated. Results: The study sample was composed of 1036 subjects over 18 years of age, who resided in Spain, where 56.3% were women with a mean age of 48.11 years (SD = 15.13). The study of construct validity reported two factors and 16 items, with a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.92. The scale was concurrently valid with the used gold standard and obtained sensitivity values of 90.48% and specificity values of 76%. Conclusions: The AMICO scale is valid and reliable for assessing the level of anxiety and fear of COVID-19 in the adult Spanish population and is highly sensitive.

Objective: The virulence of COVID-19 has been particularly problematic in countries such as Spain. This led the government to decide that the population should be locked down at home to reduce the spread of the disease and avoid the collapse of the health system. Considering this, this study analyzed the changes in intimate relationships that occurred during lockdown in terms of dyadic adjustment, conflict, and quality of the relationship, as well as their relationship with anxiety symptoms. Method: Cross-sectional questionnaire-based study with adults (N = 342) aged 20-67 years who lived in Spain. Each participant completed self-report measures of anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory state and trait subscales), dyadic adjustment (Dyadic Adjustment Scale), relationship conflict and quality, and sociodemographic variables. Results: The results showed significant levels of state anxiety, which was associated with poorer dyadic adjustment and a decrease in the perceived quality of relationships since the start of lockdown. Increased partner conflict seems to be an important predictor of dyadic adjustment and relationship quality during social isolation. Conclusions: This study suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the mental health of the population, especially women. This finding is closely associated with difficulties with one's cohabiting partner (e.g., worse dyadic adjustment), but the most determining factor seems to be the previous state of the relationship. Clinical Impact StatementResearch on COVID-19 and mental health has focused on exploring the state of mental health of individuals at a given point in time, without a baseline of how they were before the pandemic. In this study, we assessed anxiety as a personality trait (trait anxiety), asking participants to base their responses on how they usually felt before the onset of the pandemic (i.e., baseline). A comparison between these results and the anxiety experienced in the first wave of the pandemic (state anxiety) confirmed an increase in anxiety-related symptoms in a significant number of participants, predicting worse dyadic adjustment and a deterioration in the quality of their relationships.

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