Psychological stress, loneliness, and psychological inflexibility are associated with poorer mental health and professional performance in university teachers. However, the relationship between these variables is understudied. The aim of the present study is to analyze the mediating role of psychological (in)flexibility on the effect of loneliness on psychological stress. A total of 902 professors from 11 universities in Ecuador were analyzed using standardized scales: the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) to assess psychological stress, the Loneliness Scale Revised-Short (UCLA-3) for loneliness, and the Avoidance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-7) and Life Engagement Test as double measures of psychological (in)flexibility. Mediation was tested by using PROCESS macro for SPSS. The results indicated that psychological flexibility mediated the relationship between loneliness and stress in university professors, regardless of sex and the measure of psychological (in)flexibility considered. The practical implications of the results are discussed herein.

The workplace is currently one of the main places of discrimination for socially vulnerable groups such as immigrant workers, who are often required to take on highly stigmatized, menial jobs under supervisors who subject them to daily mistreatment and racism. This study adopted a qualitative approach to 42 semi‐structured interviews of Ecuadorian immigrant workers residing in Spain to explore the processes of discrimination these laborers feel in their everyday workplaces. The findings clearly indicate that immigrant workers can be victims of daily discrimination, which is evidenced by the higher degree of scrutiny and lower levels of trust they suffer compared to their Spanish counterparts, and by their supervisors’ lack of compliance with contractual agreements. As these immigrants are obliged to take on less qualified jobs, they suffer from a lack of recognition and a sense of being undervalued. This analysis also gathered evidence of interviewees’ daily humiliations imparted by their supervisors—and even, at times, by work colleagues—in the form of racial slurs, verbal abuse, and unequal treatment, leaving them feeling powerless and helpless. Most of our respondents in fact find themselves in a predicament they do not know how to confront and cannot reject. All of these factors lead to feelings of humiliation and lack of independence.

El burnout constituye un fenómeno global, especialmente en el ámbito de profesionales de lasalud por las características propias de estos profesionales supondría una mayor vulnerabilidad (Gluschkoff, Elovainio, Kinnunen, Mullola, Hintsanen, Keltikangas-Järvinen y Hintsa, 2016;). La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo identificar el burnout y la relación con los rasgos de personalidad (extroversión, psicoticismo, neuroticismo). Se utilizó una metodología descriptiva y correlacional, con una muestra de accesibilidad no probalística de 149 médicos de la zona sur del Ecuador.Los instrumentos utilizados fueron Inventario de Maslach [MBI-HSS] y el cuestionario de personalidad de Eysenck Revisado- [EPQR-A]. Entre los resultados relevantes se obtuvo una prevalencia de 2.7% del síndrome de burnout, en cuanto al agotamiento emocional 25.5% un nivel alto, en despersonalización el 10.7% un nivel alto y el 59.1% tiene baja realización personal. Como conclusiones generales se pudo identificar una correlación significativa entre neuroticismo y el burnout y con las dimensiones agotamiento emocional; despersonalización, así como también entre extroversión y despersonalización.

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