DOI: https://doi.org/10.47460/minerva.v2i5.30
Confinement, Stress and Attitudes in Pandemic Times
Recibido (04/06/2021), Aceptado (23/06/2021)
Abstract: A review of the emotional aspects that occur during the COVID-19 pandemic is presented. Relevant results are presented showing that stress has been an essential element in all scenarios in times of confinement. However, in the periods and schedules where there is no confinement, stress is also present in people. In spite of this common feature, there are small groups that do not show stress in the face of confinement and, on the contrary, have managed to cope effectively with this situation, carrying out undertakings or activities for personal improvement. Among the most relevant conclusions is that attitude is fundamental for adaptation to change and improvements in quality of life.
Keywords: Confinement, attitude, stress.
Confinamiento, estrés y actitudes en tiempo de pandemia
Resumen: Se presenta una revisión sobre los aspectos emocionales que transcurren durante la pandemia por COVID-19. Se exponen resultados relevantes que muestran que el estrés ha sido un elemento esencial en todos los escenarios en tiempos de confinamiento. Sin embargo en los períodos y horarios donde no hay confinamiento también existe un estrés presente en las personas. A pesar de este común, se observan pequeños grupos que no manifiestan estrés ante el confinamiento y que por el contrario han logrado sobrellevar de forma efectiva esta situación, haciendo emprendimientos o actividades de mejoramiento personal. Entre las conclusiones más relevantes está que la actitud es fundamental para la adaptación al cambio y las mejoras en la calidad de vida.
Palabras Clave: Confinamiento, actitud, estrés.
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Alcívar et al., Confinement, Stress and Attitudes in Panademic Times
ISSN 2697-3650MINERVA, MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH Vol. 2, Nº 5 August 2021 (pp. 13-19)
I.INTRODUCTION
Stress is a reflex of the organism to certain situations [1], which triggers a physiological reaction in the organism producing certain emotions in people. Stress can manifest itself differently in each individual, and can have different causes depending on the type of person [2]. These emotional situations are present in people's daily lives, and can be minor or major depending on the stressor stimuli and the individual characteristics of each person.
The pandemic has brought to light a set of political, social and family situations that were not previously visible. For example, the lack of preparation of the States to face social situations such as COVID-19, which in addition to bringing health consequences, has unleashed a compendium of social situations associated with it, as is the case of confinement, teleworking, online education, among other consequences.
Confinement was an interesting topic for this study, since it will address those aspects that have been observed from different sources on the situation of confinement for people, from changes in family habits, to changes in work and attitudinal habits of people.
The main results show that attitude is fundamental to cope with situations of confinement, the understanding and maturity of people to face new challenges without leaving home, is the key to personal and family growth in times of pandemic. Recognizing the risk and assuming the activities from home can be a solution to stay healthy and to under- take new ideas.
The pandemic has brought to light a set of political, social and family situations that were not previously visible. For example, the unpreparedness of the States to face social situations such as AIDS-19, which in addition to brin- ging health consequences, has unleashed a compendium of social situations associated with it, such as confinement, teleworking, online education, among other consequences.
II.DEVELOPMENT
The new times demand above-average job skills, which include not only the knowledge acquired from university studies, but also the skills acquired in a complementary way. In addition, knowledge of computer tools has become a necessity for each and every job, which every day are migrating their processes to other automated, more complete and online, that optimize systems, and improve the presentation of products and business objectives.
The situation of social isolation brought an imminent need for online activities, one of the most affected being education, firstly because the educational system in Latin America is framed in a traditional process, face-to-face with traditional methodologies, and secondly because there is no appropriate technological infrastructure to address all as- pects involved in an online education, bringing with it some psychosocial risks [3] that considerably affect productivity and health problems in people.
The application of surveys in times of pandemic has been a daily routine [4], many times to know the different personal situations in the face of such a controversial world scenario. However, this type of studies has also caused a problem of stress in people, who are constantly being evaluated by different academies, institutions and specialized centers.
A.Stress disorder in previous pandemics.
Several studies show that situations of confinement have a great impact on people, causing important changes in their life routines, which may even continue after the quarantine period has passed [5], [6].
The health problems caused by pandemics also have serious consequences for those affected, not only for the sick, but also for their families, physicians, and other social sectors that are affected by the continuous human losses.
Other studies reveal that between 27.5% and 83.3% of people affected by Ebola presented significant symptoms of anxiety and stress, reaching up to 75% of depressive symptoms [6]. Stress can be caused by any or all of the situations adjacent to the health problem, involving fear of contagion, fear of job loss, home and family needs, and confinement.
B.Resilience and adaptation
The concept of resilience is something that has been studied in recent years, to refer to the ability of a person to overcome adversity. Several studies have been conducted to try to understand the factors that influence a person to have more capacity than another to overcome the complexities of the circumstances that he or she may experience [7].
Among the most relevant characteristics necessary for a person to have an appropriate resilience, those related to personality stand out, where the attitude of the individual plays a fundamental role. But external factors also have an influence, such as the support of the family environment, friends, among others [7].
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The health situation that the world is going through causes anxiety and stress in people, which lead to unfavorable actions within the family context, and have repercussions on work productivity [4], [2], [7], [1].
A positive attitude is necessary even in spite of the experiences and difficulties, since it is observed that attitude is fundamental to assume the pandemic in a more proactive way, to understand the confinement as an opportunity to value other aspects of life and to restructure other social habits. Figure 1 shows some aspects necessary to assume different adverse situations with a better attitude, or with resilience.
Fig. 1. Important aspects to assess resilience as a personality trait.
III.METHODOLOGY
This work was carried out with a methodology based on a documentary review of the aspects associated with con- finement during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, a systematic bibliographic search of academic scientific documents containing relevant information on the topic of study was considered, but also those works from reliable sources and whose results allowed a contribution to this research were evaluated. Figure 2 shows the basic outline for this work.
Fig.2. Phases of the research
For each of the phases of the research, the following was taken into account:
Phase 1: The estimation of the time of execution of the topic was carried out, in order to organize the documen- tary material taking into account the pandemic situation started in 2019.
Phase 2: The selection of the material was carried out, taking into account the topic of study, in order to define the
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research process and the most relevant aspects regarding confinement and social behavior.
Phase 3: Inclusion criteria were evaluated (topic of study, topicality, relevance, pertinence, reliable source, scientific writing) and exclusion criteria were also considered (low pertinence, unreliable sources, antiquity, not indexed, docu- ments without identification data).
Phase 4: The results of each source were organized in order to offer a single criterion focused on the topic of study.
IV.RESULTS
Important studies [8] reveal that there is a high tendency to anxiety in people, as well as high to medium stress, in addition to altered stress, even having a significant tendency to depression, but no significant suicidal tendencies were revealed (Fig. 3).
Emotional states reveal the way in which people assume the different stressful stimuli [1], managing to express or sustain a certain emotional state according to the characteristics of each individual. Thus, it is not possible to associate stress as a consequence of anxiety, nor vice versa, but both reflect an emotional state of distress in people, which may have different sources but which affect the individual in an important way.
The situation of confinement can have diverse appreciations, depending on the attitude and particular situation of each person. But in all cases it has caused significant changes in the daily routines of families, work and academic spaces.
70,00%
60,00%
50,00%
40,00%
30,00%
20,00%
10,00%
0,00%
Estado
Fig. 3. Emotional states observed [8].
In shopping places and markets, stress has been increasing representatively (Fig. 4), influenced by the fear of con- tagion in social spaces, in addition to the fear of contaminated food and groceries. This has led to significant stress levels in markets [9].
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Alcívar et al., Confinement, Stress and Attitudes in Panademic Times
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Month and year stress
Fig.4. Market stress level [9].
Stressful situations in the population during the time of a pandemic are unavoidable, but can be mitigated with appropriate medical care. In addition, it is necessary for individuals to weigh the health risks against the benefits of working at home, which include:
•Increased working comfort •Reduced traffic problems. •Meals prepared at home. •Family sharing.
•Ease of organization and time management.
The attitude towards uncomfortable situations must be fundamental to be able to assume with greater tranquility the mishaps of the day to day. However, culture, habits and customs can have a considerable influence on the way in which daily vicissitudes are assumed. These same factors influence the way in which stressful stimuli are assumed and how they influence daily life.
The stress situation in the academic sector may be greater than in other sectors, because the educational system was not structured for online activities and methodological resources are limited. In addition, computer resources are not accessible to all sectors, leaving a significant number of children and young people out of communication. School dropout statistics in Peru are shown in Figure 5, showing a significant increase in recent years [10]. In total for the year 2020, the number of children not attending school in Peru is 230,000.
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ISSN 2697-3650
Number of students
MINERVA, MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH Vol. 2, Nº 5 August 2021 (pp. 13-19)
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
School situation
Fig. 5. School situation in Peru, year 2020-2021[10].
The pandemic situation aggravated these figures, since family economic problems are on the order of 75.2%, while family problems are at 12.3% and lack of internet due to failures or resources, at 4%. [10]. This leads to emotional consequences in the population, anxiety, depression and stress.
V.CONCLUSIONS
Once the bibliographic review has been carried out, it is possible to draw the following conclusions:
1.Stress is conditioned to stressor stimuli, and depends fundamentally on people's attitudes to cope with it, i.e., customs, culture, family, and individual characteristics. The continuous presence of stressful stimuli can be determi- nant for a difficult emotional state, which can trigger other consequences such as lack of motivation, illness, lack of productivity.
2.The confinement by COVID-19 has brought important emotional consequences, which vary between anxiety, stress, depression, and whose causes are also various, which include social distancing, economic problems, unemplo- yment, excessive teleworking, limitations of computer resources, family situations, among others.La actitud individual puede ser una salida para atenuar los problemas de estrés en las personas, pues la resiliencia resulta un arma beneficiosa para sobrellevar los acontecimientos actuales causados por la pandemia y el confinamiento.
3.The global pandemic situation will not cease in the coming days, perhaps not even in the coming years, and hu- manity will have to adopt the necessary measures to cope with a new lifestyle, allowing economic, academic and social activation with the necessary limitations to maintain life and health.
4.For people who get other economic forms, they should consider confinement as a new lifestyle, to reduce health risks and ensure a better family future.
REFERENCES
[1]F. Suárez, L. Rosales y Á. Lezama, La ingeniería de las emociones humanas, Quito: AutanaBooks, 2020.
[2]C. L. J. Manuel, M. A. G. Isabel, M. V. A. Rosario, P. P. H. Lizbeth y E. A. J. Luis, «Satisfacción con la vida en grupos etarios de la ciudad de Arequipa, Perú.,» Universidad, Ciencia y Tecnología, vol. 24, nº 107, pp. 56-62, 2020.
[3]L. MArtínez, «RIESGOS PSICOSOCIALES Y ESTRÉS LABORAL EN TIEMPOS DE COVID-19: INSTRU- MENTOS PARA SU EVALUACIÓN,» Revista de Comunicación y Salud, vol. 10, nº 2, pp. 301-321, 2020.
[4]R. Alania, R. Llancari, M. De la Cruz y D. Ortega, «Adaptación del cuestionario de estrés académico SISCO SV al contexto de la crisis por COVID-19,» Socialium, vol. 4, nº 2, pp. 11-130, 2020.
[5]S. Brooks, R. Webster, L. Smith, L. Woodland, S. Wessely y N. Greenberg, «The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence.,» The Lancet. , vol. 395, nº 10227, pp. 912-920, 2020.
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[6]C. Palomino-Oré y J. Huarcaya-Victoria, «Trastornos por estrés debido a la cuarentena durante la pandemia por la COVID-19,» Horiz Med, vol. 20, nº 4, 2020.
[7]D. Athié y P. Gallegos, «Relación entre resiliencia y situación familiar,» Psicología Iberoamericana, vol. 17, nº 1, pp. 5-14, 2009.
[8]Y. Arias Molina, Y. Herrero Solano, Y. Cabrera Hernández, D. Guyat y Y. Mederos, «Manifestaciones psicológicas frente a la situación epidemiológica causada por la COVID-19,» Revista habanera de ciencias médicas, vol. 19, 2020. [9]Funds Society, «El nivel de estrés de los mercados alcanza su tercer pico debido a la pandemia y ante potenciales problemas de liquidez y crédito,» Datos de la CNMV, 27 mayo 2020. [En línea]. Available: https://www.fundssociety. com/es/noticias/mercados/el-nivel-de-estres-de-los-mercados-alcanza-su-tercer-pico-debido-a-la-pandemia-y-an- te-potenciales-problemas-de-liquidez-y-credito. [Último acceso: 06 junio 2021].
[10]Plan internacional, «Conoce las alarmantes cifras sobre la educación de niñas, niños y adolescentes en nuestro país,» 12 abril 2021. [En línea]. Available: https://www.planinternational.org.pe/blog/conoce-las-alarmantes-cifras-so- bre-la-educacion-de-ninas-ninos-y-adolescentes-en-nuestro-pais. [Último acceso: 27 junio 2021].
CURRICULUM SUMMARY
Lic. Monserrate Dalila Del Rocío Alcívar Cedeño, Mgs.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9558-4026 monserrate.alcivar@uleam.edu.ec
Es Docente en la Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de
Manabí, Extensión Chone, Manabí-Ecuador, investigadora
Lic. Jorge Isacio Cedeño Molina, Mgs.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7437-2809
jorge.cedeno@uleam.edu.ec
Es Docente en la Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí, Extensión Chone, Manabí-Ecuador, Investigador en el área de ciencias de la educación.
Lic. Eddy Rigoberto Mendoza Rodríguez, Mgs.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6079-1962
eddy.mendoza@uleam.edu.ec
Es Docente en la Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí, Extensión Chone, Manabí-Ecuador, Investigador en el área de la Salud y Bienestar.
Lic. Yerlis Biriannys Bravo Sánchez, Mgs.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2212-224X
yerlis.bravo@uleam.edu.ec
Docente de la Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí- Ext. Chone, ha desarrollado sus investigaciones en el área de las Ciencias de la
Educación e Innovación Educativa.
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Alcívar et al., Confinement, Stress and Attitudes in Panademic Times
