Publications by authors named "Forjaz M"

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic was a global public health crisis with an unparalleled impact worldwide, presenting a significant challenge for both physical and mental health. The main objective of this study was to analyze the risk of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this was affected by sociodemographic factors, pandemic fatigue, risk perception, trust in institutions, and perceived self-efficacy.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Region of Murcia through two online surveys completed by 1000 people in June 2021 (Round 1) and March 2022 (Round 2).

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The Covid pandemic has yielded new insights into psychological vaccine acceptance factors. This knowledge serves as a basis for behavioral and communication interventions that can increase vaccination readiness for other diseases.

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Background: Contact tracing is a public health intervention implemented in synergy with other preventive measures to curb epidemics, like the coronavirus pandemic. The development and use of digital devices have increased worldwide to enhance the contact tracing process. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of tracking coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients using digital solutions.

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Background: During the first epidemic wave, COVID-19 surveillance focused on quantifying the magnitude and the escalation of a growing global health crisis. The scientific community first assessed risk through basic indicators, such as the number of cases or rates of new cases and deaths, and later began using other direct impact indicators to conduct more detailed analyses. We aimed at synthesizing the scientific community's contribution to assessing the direct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on population health through indicators reported in research papers.

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Background: Enabling, supporting and promoting positive health-related behaviours is critical in addressing the major public health challenges of our time, and the multifaceted nature of behaviours requires an evidence-based approach. This statement seeks to suggest how a much-needed enhanced use of behavioural and cultural science and insights for health could be advanced.

Study Design And Methods: and methods: Public health authorities of Europe and Central Asia and international partner organizations in September 2023 met in Copenhagen, Denmark, to discuss the way forward.

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Objective: To examine the relationship between the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) score and sociodemographic, health, emotional and behavioural factors, in a cross-sectional observational study in 447 older adults living in long-term care (LTC) settings in Madrid (Spain).

Methods: The sample was stratified by nursing home ownership, geographical location, and size. Multiple linear regression analysis was used using backward elimination to identify factors that explained associations with fear, and logistic regression models were used to examine its role as a predictor of adherence to preventive measures.

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Background: Estimating the risks and impacts of COVID-19 for different health groups at the population level is essential for orienting public health measures. Adopting a population-based approach, we conducted a systematic review to explore: (1) the etiological role of multimorbidity and frailty in developing SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19-related short-term outcomes; and (2) the prognostic role of multimorbidity and frailty in developing short- and long-term outcomes. This review presents the state of the evidence in the early years of the pandemic.

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Background: There is little evidence regarding the characteristics of adults who self-reported not having had COVID-19 after two years of the pandemic. This study aimed to analyse the characteristics of no-COVID-19 respondents and the associated factors to better understand which may have conditioned not having had the disease as guidance to help in the design of better public health strategies.

Methods: This cross-sectional, observational study was conducted in the Spanish general population in a representative sample of 1051 adults who completed an online survey in September 2022.

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This study aimed to describe the change in knowledge, attitudes, concerns, perceptions, preventive practices, and vaccination intention at two key time points of the COVID-19 pandemic and to assess whether these changes varied by level of pandemic fatigue. Data included in this study came from the third and the ninth round of the COSMO-Spain cross-sectional study. A general linear model was used to investigate the interaction terms between rounds and levels of pandemic fatigue.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates why certain individuals in Spain chose not to get vaccinated during the later stage of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, focusing on their beliefs and motivations.
  • Two groups of unvaccinated people (ages 18-40) were surveyed online, revealing that many felt vaccines were developed too quickly and were unsafe.
  • The findings indicate a need for targeted information campaigns to counter misinformation, as different groups exhibit varying levels of trust in health professionals and willingness to get vaccinated in the future.
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Introduction: The protection of children is a major driver of behavior among those in charge of their care. We evaluated whether compliance with preventive measures against SARS-CoV-2 infection among adults living with children was different from that of those not living with them, in 2020.

Methods: We used the COSMO-SPAIN ( = 867) and the nationally representative ENE-COVID ( = 29,926) surveys to estimate prevalence of compliance (95% confidence interval).

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Background: Multimorbidity is influenced in an interconnected way, both in extent and nature, by the social determinants of health. We aimed at implementing an intersectional approach to analyse the association of multimorbidity with five important axes of social inequality (i.e.

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Purpose: Preference-based measures are valuable tools for evaluating therapeutic interventions and for cost-effectiveness studies. Mapping procedures are useful when it is not possible to collect these kind of measures. The objective of this study was to evaluate which mapping method is the most appropriate to estimate the EQ-5D-5L index from the Spanish National Health Survey functional disability scale.

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Nurses' attitudes toward families play an important role in improving relationships with patients' families. It is essential to have valid and reliable instruments to assess nurses' attitudes toward involving families. The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the refined Spanish version of the Families' Importance in Nursing Care-Nurses' Attitudes (FINC-NA) according to classical test theory and the Rasch model ( = 263).

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Nursing homes for the elderly in Spain have experienced high rates of infection and mortality from COVID-19, although rates have varied from one region to another. Madrid is the region where most institutionalized older adults have died from the coronavirus. However, there is little known about the psychosocial and environmental factors involved in the high incidence of COVID-19 among the institutionalised population in this region.

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The most vulnerable residential settings during the COVID-19 pandemic were older adult's nursing homes, which experienced high rates of incidence and death from this cause. This paper aims to ascertain how institutionalized older people assessed their residential environment during the pandemic and to examine the differences according to personal and contextual characteristics. The COVID-19 Nursing Homes Survey (Madrid region, Spain) was used.

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Fear of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is one of the main psychological impacts of the actual pandemic, especially among the population groups with higher mortality rates. The Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) has been used in different scenarios to assess fear associated with COVID-19, but this has not been done frequently in people living in long-term care (LTC) settings. The present study is aimed at measuring the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the FCV-19S in residents in LTC settings, following both the classical test theory (CTT) and Rasch model frameworks.

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This study aims at describing the evolution of Spanish population preventive practices during the COVID-19 pandemic of the between January and June 2021, and differences by age group. Data was drawn from the COSMO-Spain online survey, rounds (R) 4, 5 and 6. Multiple linear regression models with preventive practices as dependent variable were performed.

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Introduction: There is growing evidence that the impact of COVID-19 crisis may be stronger for individuals with multimorbidity, frailty and lower socioeconomic status. Existing reviews focus on few, mainly short-term effects of COVID-19 illness and patients with single chronic disease. Information is also largely missing for population representative samples.

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Background: United Nations Sustainable Development Goals state that by 2030, the global maternal mortality rate (MMR) should be lower than 70 per 100,000 live births. MMR is still one of Africa's leading causes of death among women. The leading causes of maternal mortality in Africa are hemorrhage and eclampsia.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of health literacy to make informed preventive decisions. A specific COVID-19 health literacy questionnaire (CHL-Q) is included in the COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring WHO initiative to conduct behavioral insights studies related to COVID-19. The objective was to assess the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the COVID-19 Health Literacy Questionnaire (CHL-Q).

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To analyze factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Spain, over time. We used data from a national study that included 5 online surveys carried out every 2 months from September 2020 to May 2021. Each round recruited a sample of 1000 participants aged 18 years or older.

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Background: Following the active ageing model based on the Health, Lifelong Learning, Participation and Security pillars, this research has a twofold objective: i) to classify older adults according to active ageing profiles, taking into account the four pillars, and ii) to ascertain the relationship between the profiles and personal and contextual factors, as well as well-being and quality of life in old age.

Methods: A study sample of 5,566 Spanish older adults who participated in wave 6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) was included. Data were analysed in different steps applying several statistical analyses (Principal Component, Cluster, Discriminant, Multiple Correspondence and bivariate analysis with Pearson chi-square and ANOVA).

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Background: Pandemic fatigue is defined as feelings of demotivation to follow preventive measures against COVID-19, together with decreased trust in government and frequency of information-seeking behaviors.

Objective: This study aims to analyze the psychometric properties of the COVID-19-specific pandemic fatigue scale according to classical test theory (CTT) and Rasch model approaches in the general Spanish population.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in a representative sample of 1018 adults who completed an online survey in November 2020 in the framework of the COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring (COSMO)-Spain project.

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Introduction: Healthcare professionals are among the main risk groups for novel coronavirus disease (COVID 19). The identification of respiratory symptoms is important in the clinical assumption of infection, but it may be asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic.

Objectives: To compare the proportion of professionals with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with the proportion of positive asymptomatic professionals with high-risk contact; and to identify respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms of professionals with suspected COVID-19 and the proportion of those who tested positive for SARS CoV-2.

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