Joel Martínez-Soto

Accurately measuring residential satisfaction is important when it comes to guiding architectural design strategies that improve people’s quality of life in line with their needs. The aim of this study was to create and validate a specific instrument to measure residential satisfaction in a Mexican context. The study began with a qualitative assessment of residential satisfaction across three categories – home, neighbourhood and neighbours – using the natural semantic networks technique on a sample of 90 people from the general population. Based on these assessments, a 19-item Likert-type scale was designed. The construct validity of this scale was analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with samples from the general population ( N = 201 and N = 412, respectively). The results revealed two factors explaining 63.55% of the total variance: ‘satisfaction with the home’ (McDonald’s omega coefficient = .88) and ‘satisfaction with the neighbourhood unit’ (McDonald’s omega coefficient = .92). The scale demonstrated good psychometric properties for measuring residential satisfaction in the context studied.

Se examina la relación entre las cualidades ambientales de espacios públicos de esparcimiento, la percepción de seguridad e importancia, la percepción de restauración ambiental y la probabilidad de consumo de drogas (tabaco, alcohol y marihuana) en adolescentes mexicanos. Participaron 194 adolescentes de León, Guanajuato, México, quienes respondieron una Entrevista Ecológica (Mason et al., 2004) relacionado con la percepción de seguridad, importancia y probabilidad de consumo de drogas. La percepción de restauración psicológica fue evaluada con la Escala de Percepción Restauración Ambiental-Revisada (Martínez-Soto & Montero, 2010). Se evaluaron 39 lugares según 44 cualidades ambientales vinculadas a elementos naturales y construidos, equipamiento para las actividades, identidad y configuración espacial. Se detectaron nueve categorías de lugares, siendo solo los parques urbanos y el complejo cultural los que mostraron perfiles favorables de restauración, seguridad e importancia. El modelado de ecuaciones estructurales mostró que la vegetación, el mantenimiento y la diversidad ambiental aumentan la seguridad y la restauración ambiental, mientras que reducen la probabilidad de consumo de drogas. Los resultados subrayan la necesidad de integrar la percepción de los usuarios y la evaluación objetiva del entorno para orientar estrategias preventivas mediante la creación de espacios seguros, restauradores y significativos.

El abordaje de la salud mental en el trabajo ha evolucionado a través del tiempo, con cambios discernibles en tres principales periodos: antes, durante y después de la pandemia de COVID-19. Los impactos de la crisis sanitaria global han sido visibles en la economía, las dinámicas sociales y la salud mental de las poblaciones, la cual a su vez es afectada por los cambios estructurales de la organización laboral. Si bien antes de la pandemia se reconocían factores psicosociales de riesgo en el trabajo, el COVID-19 introdujo nuevos desafíos que exigen mayor adaptación de los trabajadores al medio, lo cual no solo incidió en el incremento del estrés laboral, sino también en diversos problemas de ansiedad y depresión. A partir de la revisión de artículos de investigación y divulgación científica sobre la salud mental en el trabajo, considerando una aproximación hermenéutica y ecológica-social sobre ambientes saludables; el presente estudio tiene el objetivo de comprender lo que permanece y lo que cambia en el estudio de la salud mental en el trabajo entre los períodos referidos para entender de dónde surge el énfasis de fomentar ambientes de trabajo saludables. A partir de lo anterior se desglosan acciones organizacionales para promover la salud mental en el trabajo.

Los sujetos con depresión presentan sesgos atencionales caracterizados por la tendencia a presentar pensamientos autorreferenciales de contenido negativo, rumiación y focalización excesiva en sus síntomas emocionales internos. Dicha tendencia aunada a factores estresantes podría generar una condición dual de fatiga cognitiva y exacerbar las dificultades en el procesamiento atencional. La teoría de la restauración atencional propone la regulación emocional y la recuperación de la fatiga cognitiva posterior a la exposición a ambientes naturales y construidos con alto potencial restaurador. Los paradigmas experimentales en la neuropsicología cognitiva son altamente sensibles para la cuantificación de los cambios en el rendimiento atencional y pueden ser utilizados como una herramienta eficiente posterior a la implementación de una intervención ambiental. El presente articulo plantea un esquema de análisis de la literatura relacionado con la evaluación de los beneficios atencionales asociados con la exposición a ambientes restauradores en sujetos con depresión partiendo de los supuestos de la teoría de la restauración atencional. Se discute la relevancia, pertinencia e implicaciones de los diversos hallazgos en la literatura afin con respecto a el abordaje de la salud mental en pacientes con depresión

Connectedness to Nature (CTN) can be studied from a cognitive, emotional and behavioral perspective as it is formed by the union of these three aspects. Furthermore, CTN is known to have implications for health, well-being, and behavior. Likewise, the presence and sounds of birds are known to be related to CTN. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between CTN and bird sounds in a child population from a rural and urban area in central Mexico. In this study, questionnaires were conducted with 500 children from a rural and an urban area in central Mexico using recordings of bird sounds and quantifying CTN, emotions and memories and associations. Some differences were found between the rural and urban population. It is suggested that the rural population could have a higher CTN and therefore, could feeling happier.

The objective of the present study is to describe the effect of a group intervention on the levels of anxiety and depression associated with the level of BDNF and cognitive impairment of patients who are candidates for kidney transplantationthrough a pre-experimental study. 25 adult patients of both gendersof a High Specialty Medical Unitparticipated in the study. The Beck depression and Golberg anxiety inventories and the Folstein Mini Mental State Exam were applied. At the beginning and end of the intervention, blood and urine samples were taken to analyze BDNF levels. A group intervention with a brief orientation cognitive behavioral approach was carried out. The results in the variables of anxiety (p = 0.002) and depression (p = 0.04) show significant differences before and after the interventionreducing the levels of these variables considerably; Regarding BDNF levels and cognitive impairment, no significant differences were found.This study shows the usefulness of group psychological therapies for the benefit of these patients as well as the need to carry out more studies that evaluate biological markers related to the pathologies presented.

The objective of the present study is to describe the effect of a group intervention on the levels of anxiety and depression associated with the level of BDNF and cognitive impairment of patients who are candidates for kidney transplantation through a pre-experimental study. 25 adult patients of both genders of a High Specialty Medical Unit participated in the study. The Beck depression and Golberg anxiety inventories and the Folstein Mini Mental State Exam were applied. At the beginning and end of the intervention, blood and urine samples were taken to analyze BDNF levels. A group intervention with a brief orientation cognitive behavioral approach was carried out. The results in the variables of anxiety (p = 0.002) and depression (p = 0.04) show significant differences before and after the intervention reducing the levels of these variables considerably; Regarding BDNF levels and cognitive impairment, no significant differences were found. This study shows the usefulness of group psychological therapies for the benefit of these patients as well as the need to carry out more studies that evaluate biological markers related to the pathologies presented.

This study aims to evaluate a structural equation model to explore statistical relationships between the onset of obesity, the neuroendocrine response to neighborhood aesthetics, and physical activity among elementary school children residing in a Mexican community. A sample of 103 children (mid‐childhood mean age = 9.02 years, SD = 1.05, range 7‐11 years; 51.5 % boys) participated in the study. The neuroendocrine response to chronic stress was assessed by hair cortisol concentration (HCC) over 3 months. Ratings of the parental perception of neighborhood aesthetics, child’s physical activity at home and neighborhood, HCC, and Body Mass Index percentile (BMI) were evaluated. The model shows that neighborhood aesthetics negatively impacts children’s BMI scores and contributes positively to the practice of children’s physical activity. Likewise, environment-based physical activity impacts positively on lower scores of BMI and children’s HCC (restorative effects). The positive effects of neighborhood aesthetics on children's physical activity and children's HCC (chronic stress) were in line with the positive relationship between HCC and children's obesity, suggesting that neighborhood aesthetics positively impact health indicators, diminishing chronic stress biomarkers and obesity indicators. These findings document the relevance of a psycho-environmental approach toward a better understanding of the synergistic effects of a positive environment, and behavior transactions related to weight gain and obesity