Work engagement and sense of coherence as predictors of psychological distress during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile

Objectives The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between sense of coherence, work engagement, and work environment variables as predictors of the level of psychological distress during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile. Methods Cross-sectional descriptive study collec...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gómez Salgado, Juan, Delgado García, Diemen, Ortega Moreno, Mónica, Fagundo Rivera, Javier, El Khoury Moreno, Luis, Vilches Arenas, Ángel, Ruiz Frutos, Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/162098
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/162098
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e31327
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Chile
COVID-19
Psychological distress
Sense of coherence
Work engagement
Work environment
Descripción
Sumario:Objectives The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between sense of coherence, work engagement, and work environment variables as predictors of the level of psychological distress during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile. Methods Cross-sectional descriptive study collected between April 22 and December 16, 2020, using non-probabilistic snowball sampling. The study variables and instruments were socio-demographic variables, work engagement (UWES-9 scale), sense of coherence (Antonovsky SOC-13 scale), and psychological distress (GHQ-12 scale). Multivariate analysis and binary logistic regression were performed including the scores of the three questionnaires and other variables such as effectiveness, safety, stress, health perception, and sex. Finally, the CHAID technique was applied to create a segmentation tree. Results 72.7 % of participants had high levels of psychological distress, more predominantly among women, with work stress and low sense of coherence acting as the most influential mediators in generating psychological distress, and even more so when both were combined. Low work engagement and the availability of safe and effective means to prevent infection were predictors of psychological distress among workers. Conclusion During the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, factors that contributed to psychological distress in the Chilean population were identified. These included a fair or poor perception of health, being a woman, work-related stress, availability of safety measures, low level of work engagement, and low level of sense of coherence. Identifying these factors may help prevent similar effects in future phases of the current pandemic or in future pandemics.