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David Ortega-Jiménez,1 Victor Manuel López-Guerra,1 Marina del Rocío Ramírez,1 Luisa T Angelucci2 1Department of Psychology, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Loja, Ecuador; 2Faculty of Humanities and Education, Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Caracas, VenezuelaCorrespondence: David Ortega-Jiménez, Department of Psychology, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL), Loja, 110107, Ecuador, Tel +593 988 888 784, Fax +593 07 370 1444, Email dmortega1@utpl.edu.ecBackground: Although the use of technology is a trend, since the COVID-19 pandemic, its use has been exacerbated, especially in educational processes, causing techno-stress among teachers.Purpose: In order to contribute to the lack of validated and adapted instruments in Latin America, this study aimed to analyze the psychometric properties and factorial structure of the Spanish version of the technostress scale in a large sample of Ecuadorian teachers.Methods: A non-probabilistic intentional sample of 2850 teachers (mean age 40 years, SD= 9.65; 65% female) from various schools throughout the Ecuadorian territory was surveyed online using a cross-sectional design. Data analysis included exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), factorial invariance, assessment of internal consistency, sex differences in technostress scale scores and convergent validity.Results: The EFA yielded a structure of four factors: skepticism, fatigue, anxiety and inefficiency. Through CFA, the hierarchical model that included a general factor and four nested factors had a better fit, and that model remained invariant across sex, age and public and private institutions. Total omega value (ω) was 0.962 for the total scale and hierarchical omega values (ωh) were 0.886 for the general factor, as well as 0.30, 0.22, 0.12 and 0.21 for the respective nested factors (skepticism, fatigue, anxiety and inefficiency). Moreover, the Resources, Experiences, Demands for Information and Communication Technologies (RED/TIC) scores were significantly higher among women, although effect sizes of comparison of those sex differences were very small. Finally, the RED/TIC scores correlated with the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21).Conclusion: The RED/TIC scale has adequate psychometric properties in primary and high school teachers, and its use in that population is supported, which provides a valuable tool for the evaluation and detection of technostress in teachers and facilitates the investigation of this multifactorial phenomenon in Latin America.Keywords: psychometric properties, factor structure, technostress, teachers, Ecuador

Background/objective: Depression represents a leading cause of disability and a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease with women systematically reporting a higher prevalence than men. This study aimed to examine the predictive value and relation of three transdiagnostic psychological factors (perceived stress, psychological inflexibility and loneliness) on depression and its sex differences for the general population in a large sample of Ecuador., Method: A non-probabilistic and non-clinical sample of 16.074 people from across Ecuador were online surveyed using a cross-sectional design. The structural equation model was based on scores from standardized questionnaires as measures of depression, psychological perceived stress, psychological inflexibility, and loneliness., Results: Women reported significantly higher levels of depression, mediated by differences in perceived stress, psychological inflexibility and loneliness. Perceived stress was the most important predictor of depression and mediated the effect of loneliness on depression. Complementarily, psychological inflexibility partially mediated the effect of perceived stress and loneliness on depression. The overall model accounted for the 78% of the total variance in depression., Conclusions: Results of this study provide a novel and robust transdiagnostic model of sex differences on depression and insights on how to design effective programs for preventing depression targeting modifiable transdiagnostic risk factors., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

Background: The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is the most well-known self-report measure to screen for depressive symptomatology, although discerning which is the factor structure that represents the best fit remains a challenge., Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties and factorial structure of the Spanish version of the PHQ-9 in a large sample of Ecuadorian college students., Methods: A total of 5,394 students ( M = 22.03 years; SD = 3.05; 54.8% female) from three Ecuadorian universities were surveyed using a computerized questionnaire within a 4-week assessment period. The PHQ-9 was tested for factorial structure, reliability, and correlations with other mental health-related measures., Results: The hierarchical model that included a general factor and three nested factors had a better fit, and such a hierarchical structure remained invariant across sex and age. Total omega value (ω) was 0.90 for the total scale and hierarchical omega values (ω h ) were 0.68 for the general factor, as well as 0.34, 0.38, and 0.44 for the respective nested factors (somatic, cognitive/affective, concentration/motor). Moreover, PHQ-9 scores were significantly higher among women, although effect sizes of comparison of those sex differences were very small. Finally, the PHQ-9 scores correlated with multiple mental health indicators (psychological inflexibility, loneliness, stress, and satisfaction with life)., Discussion: The Spanish version of the PHQ-9 showed good psychometric properties among Ecuadorian college students. The hierarchical structure showed the best fit for the data, including not only a dominant general factor, but also the somatic, cognitive/affective and concentration/motor subcomponents. In conclusion, the PHQ-9 tool seems to represent an easy-to-implement screening questionnaire to design preventive programs for those Ecuadorian college students at risk of developing depressive disorders., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 López-Guerra, López-Núñez, Vaca-Gallegos and Torres-Carrión.)

Background/objective: This study examined the role of different psychological coping mechanisms in mental and physical health during the initial phases of the COVID-19 crisis with an emphasis on meaning-centered coping., Method: A total of 11,227 people from 30 countries across all continents participated in the study and completed measures of psychological distress (depression, stress, and anxiety), loneliness, well-being, and physical health, together with measures of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, and a measure called the Meaning-centered Coping Scale (MCCS) that was developed in the present study. Validation analyses of the MCCS were performed in all countries, and data were assessed by multilevel modeling (MLM)., Results: The MCCS showed a robust one-factor structure in 30 countries with good test-retest, concurrent and divergent validity results. MLM analyses showed mixed results regarding emotion and problem-focused coping strategies. However, the MCCS was the strongest positive predictor of physical and mental health among all coping strategies, independently of demographic characteristics and country-level variables., Conclusions: The findings suggest that the MCCS is a valid measure to assess meaning-centered coping. The results also call for policies promoting effective coping to mitigate collective suffering during the pandemic., (© 2021 Asociación Española de Psicología Conductual. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U.)