Ansiedad y depresión en parejas que incian un tratamiento de fecundación in vitro (FIV): rol de las estrategias de afrontamiento

Living with infertility and its emotional impact in couples has been frequently investigated. The objective of the present study was to establish in couples that initiate an IVF treatment:(1) their coping profile, anxiety level (State-anxiety; Trait-anxiety) and depression symptomatology;(2) the explanatory power of coping strategies over anxiety and depression levels, depending on gender. Method: we used a transversal study with 92 couples that begun an IVF treatment in the Assisted Reproduction Unit of the Hospital Clinic. All of them respond to the Spanish adaptation of the CRI-A, the STAI and the BDI-I. Results: the IVF population in comparison to the normal sample use less coping strategies and presents lower levels of anxiety and depression. Women IVF in comparison with man employ further avoidance strategies and present a higher score in depression and state-anxiety. Even when some exceptions exist, anxiety and depression levels are not well explained by coping strategies. Conclusions: It has been shown that the use of coping strategies on the IVF population are lower than in normative sample. Most of the couples present low anxiety (state / trait) and depression levels, and just a low percentage present scores that can require clinical attention. Key words: Infertility / IVF / Coping strategies / State anxiety / Trait anxiety / depression.

Técnica de respiración Jacobson para reducir el estrés de enfermeras de unidades de cuidados intensivos

Problema del estudio: El sector de enfermería perteneciente a las Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos presentan estrés, y se ofrece la Técnica de respiración Jacobson como herramienta para disminuir los niveles y los problemas derivados del estrés. Objetivo general: Evaluar la eficacia de la técnica de respiración Jacobson sobre el estrés en los profesionales de enfermería de UCI. Objetivos específicos: Diseñar un taller de respiración de la técnica Jacobson, para enfermería de UCI; comparar los niveles de estrés de los enfermeros de UCI antes y después de la intervención mediante los cuestionarios STAI, NSS y NWI; y evaluar los principales factores estresantes de los enfermeros/as en su trabajo, comparando los 2 grupos de la intervención (los que realizan el programa de la Técnica de relajación Jacobson y los que no participan). Metodología: El ámbito de estudio será una planta del servicio de UCI de un Hospital de Agudos. Se trata de un ensayo clínico aleatorio y experimental, que constará de 2 grupos control; uno realizará la intervención (Grupo 1) y el otro no (Grupo 2). Los sujetos del estudio son las enfermeras/os de una planta de UCI de un Hospital de Agudos, incluidas enfermeras administrativas y gerentes. Los instrumentos que se utilizarán son: la recogida de datos personales de cada participante, Test STAI (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), Escala de Estrés de Enfermería NSS (Nursing Stress Scale) y Escala del entorno de práctica enfermera del NWI (Nursing Work Index). Limitaciones del estudio: Pérdidas de seguimiento y la no participación de las enfermeras/os en el estudio.

Automatic Prediction of Facial Trait Judgments: Appearance vs. Structural Models

Evaluating other individuals with respect to personality characteristics plays a crucial role in human relations and it is the focus of attention for research in diverse fields such as psychology and interactive computer systems. In psychology, face perception has been recognized as a key component of this evaluation system. Multiple studies suggest that observers use face information to infer personality characteristics. Interactive computer systems are trying to take advantage of these findings and apply them to increase the natural aspect of interaction and to improve the performance of interactive computer systems. Here, we experimentally test whether the automatic prediction of facial trait judgments (e.g. dominance) can be made by using the full appearance information of the face and whether a reduced representation of its structure is sufficient. We evaluate two separate approaches: a holistic representation model using the facial appearance information and a structural model constructed from the relations among facial salient points. State of the art machine learning methods are applied to a) derive a facial trait judgment model from training data and b) predict a facial trait value for any face. Furthermore, we address the issue of whether there are specific structural relations among facial points that predict perception of facial traits. Experimental results over a set of labeled data (9 different trait evaluations) and classification rules (4 rules) suggest that a) prediction of perception of facial traits is learnable by both holistic and structural approaches; b) the most reliable prediction of facial trait judgments is obtained by certain type of holistic descriptions of the face appearance; and c) for some traits such as attractiveness and extroversion, there are relationships between specific structural features and social perceptions.