Women and girls experience gender violence from a young age. Scientific research has presented evidence of the negative impact of toxic relationships and toxic stress on physical and psychological health. However, less is known on how this evidence can have a preventive effect. Knowing these impacts can be important for women and girls to decide the type of affective-sexual relationships they want to have, and even transform their attraction towards different types of masculinity. This study presents results from the MEMO4LOVE project. Researchers use mixed-methods approaches, including a questionnaire (n = 141) to study adolescents’ peer groups’ interactions that promoted healthy or toxic affective-sexual relationships, and five communicative focus groups with boys and girls to analyze how these interactions can be transformed by sharing scientific knowledge on the effects of violent relationships with adolescents. The results showed the impact of sharing with adolescents the evidence of the adverse effects of toxic relationships with violent masculinities on health. The peer group’s transformation occurred: non-violent boys gained self-confidence, and girls redirected or reinforced their attraction to non-violent boys. These results suggest the potential positive effects of knowing the impacts of toxic relationships on girls’ health.

No abstract

The iENCUIST online tool was designed to reduce the psychological impact on both the confined population and on professionals who were at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic. In the first study (N= 2,362), the results are shown of the short test to perform personality profiles, made up of 34 items that show good psychometric properties. In the second study, the psychological profiles of confined individuals and professionals who had requested psychological help are presented (N= 815). The results indicate that confined women present higher scores in the variables of anxiety, anger, or disgust, placing this group at a greater risk for presenting psychological problems. As for professionals, those with more years of experience or who faced past crises have greater emotional stability, being a key factor in crisis management. After 6 weeks, the usefulness of the help offered by iENCUIST was evaluated and almost 80% of users indicated that they applied the recommendations offered by the tool, and that they helped them overcome the crisis.

La herramienta online iENCUIST fue diseñada para reducir el impacto psicológico, tanto en la población confinada como en los profesionales que estaban a la vanguardia de la lucha contra la pandemia por Covid-19. En el primer estudio (N= 2.362) se muestran los resultados del test breve para realizar perfiles de personalidad, compuesto por 34 ítems que presentan buenas propiedades psicométricas. En el segundo estudio se presentan los perfiles psicológicos de los confinados y los profesionales que habían solicitado ayuda psicológica (N= 815). Los resultados indican que las mujeres confinadas presentan puntuaciones más altas en las variables de ansiedad, enfado o disgusto, colocando a este grupo en mayor riesgo de presentar problemas psicológicos. En cuanto a los profesionales, aquellos con más años de experiencia o que enfrentaron crisis pasadas tienen mayor estabilidad emocional, siendo un factor clave en la gestión de crisis. A las 6 semanas se evaluó la utilidad de la ayuda ofrecida por iENCUIST y casi el 80% de los usuarios indicó que aplicaron las recomendaciones que ofrece la herramienta y que les ayudaron a superar la crisis.