Publications by authors named "Ruben Alvarado"

Background: Few implementation science (IS) measures have been evaluated for validity, reliability and utility - the latter referring to whether a measure captures meaningful aspects of implementation contexts. We present a real-world case study of rigorous measure development in IS that assesses Barriers and Facilitators in Implementation of Task-Sharing in Mental Health services (BeFITS-MH), with the objective of offering lessons-learned and a framework to enhance measurement utility.

Methods: We summarize conceptual and empirical work that informed the development of the BeFITS-MH measure, including a description of the Delphi process, detailed translation and local adaptation procedures, and concurrent pilot testing.

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Background: Long-term deterioration in the mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs) has been reported during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Determining the impact of COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates on the mental health of HCWs is essential to prepare for potential new pandemics. This study aimed to investigate the association of COVID-19 incidence and mortality rates with depressive symptoms over 2 years among HCWs in 20 countries during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of healthcare workers. Studying the care perspective is essential to understanding the causes of specific mental health findings and proposing strategies to address them.

Methods: Cross-sectional study with a thematic analytical approach, derived from the international initiative "The Health Care Workers Study" (HEROES), conducted among healthcare workers in Chile during the second semester of 2022 and the first of 2023 through semi-structured interviews and inductive coding.

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Over the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of enduring mental health on healthcare workers has become increasingly evident. This review focuses on post-pandemic mental health challenges faced by healthcare personnel in Latin America. This highlights the persistent burden on healthcare workers, especially women, which is exacerbated by economic disparities, inadequacies in the healthcare system, and ongoing occupational stressors.

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Introduction: Research on psychiatric deinstitutionalization has neglected that reforms in this field are nested in a health system that has undergone financial reforms. This subordination could introduce incentives that are misaligned with new mental health policies. According to Chile's National Mental Health Plan, this would be the case in the Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC).

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Background: Exposure to potentially traumatic events increases the risk of a person developing a mental disorder. Training community members to offer support to a person during and after a traumatic situation may help lower this risk. This study reports on the cultural adaptation of Australian mental health first aid guidelines for individuals exposed to a potentially traumatic event to the Chilean and Argentinian context.

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Healthcare workers (HCWs) were at increased risk for mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, with prior data suggesting women may be particularly vulnerable. Our global mental health study aimed to examine factors associated with gender differences in psychological distress and depressive symptoms among HCWs during COVID-19. Across 22 countries in South America, Europe, Asia and Africa, 32,410 HCWs participated in the COVID-19 HEalth caRe wOrkErS (HEROES) study between March 2020 and February 2021.

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Background: Psychotic symptoms may be less common than anxiety or affective symptoms, but they are still frequent and typically highly debilitating. Community members can have a role in helping to identify, offer initial help and facilitate access to mental health services of individuals experiencing psychosis. Mental health first aid guidelines for helping a person experiencing psychosis have been developed for the global north.

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Article Synopsis
  • A qualitative study explored the barriers and facilitators of implementing a pilot trial of Critical Time Intervention-Task-Shifting for individuals with psychosis in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Santiago, Chile, using 40 semi-structured interviews.
  • Analysis revealed that barriers and facilitators were categorized into five domains: Personal, Interpersonal, Intervention, Mental Health System, and Contextual.
  • Key findings indicated that while mental health stigma and community violence posed challenges, the intervention is generally seen as acceptable and feasible, presenting a valuable opportunity to enhance mental health care systems in Latin America.
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In clinical practice and population health, it is common to use questionnaires to assess conditions or variables that are not directly observable. However, the construction and validation of these instruments or questionnaires are often poorly understood. This narrative review aims to summarize in a general way the process of construction and validation of these questionnaires in order to have a better understanding of this process, the aspects that are evaluated, and the best way to use them.

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Traditionally, research has been divided according to its methodology into quantitative and qualitative. Mixed research methodology combines both methods and has established itself as a third approach, allowing to comprehensively address high-complexity research problems. Although there are various definitions of mixed methods research, they all share aspects such as the collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data and the integrated interpretation of the results within the same research.

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Objective: To measure and understand mental wellbeing among women prisoners in Chile, as part of a larger study.

Result: Sixty-eight sentenced prisoners in a women's prison participated in a survey, giving a response rate of 56.7%.

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Background: In 2005, Chile became the first country in Latin America to guarantee universal free access for the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia. A cluster randomized control trial utilizing the Dynamic Adaptation Process framework is underway to adapt and test the OnTrack coordinated specialty care model to provide recovery-oriented, person-centered care by a multidisciplinary team for individuals with first episode psychosis (FEP) in Chile.

Methods: A qualitative formative research study was conducted to inform the initial adaptation of the OnTrack Chile (OTCH) program.

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Background: Depression is one of the most common mental health problems worldwide and, while prevalence rates in Latin America are relatively high, most people who meet the criteria for diagnosis do not receive treatment. Family and friends of a person with depression can play an important role in supporting a person to seek and engage with treatment. However, many people do not have the necessary skills or confidence to help.

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Objective: Report the prevalence of depression, resilience, and risk factors among healthcare workers (HCW) during Co-vid-19.

Materials And Methods: This is an observational cross-sectional study derived from the ongoing international, prospective multicentric study "The COVID-19 HEalth caRe wOrk-Ers Study" (HEROES). A convenience sample of 2 127 HCW was obtained from Chiapas and Jalisco between May 19th and July 24th 2020.

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Background: Chile is implementing a Community Mental Health Model with a strong role of primary health care (PHC). PHC has great potential to early detection and provision of accessible and coordinated services to people who present mental illness and/or substance use issues (MISUI). However, stigma toward people with MISUI among PHC professionals is a significant barrier to accessing good quality of care.

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Objective: Stigma jeopardizes recovery and successful implementation of mental health services (MHS) globally. Despite cultural variation in how stigma manifests, few studies have examined how culture fundamentally impacts the concept of "personhood" in Latin America. Chile has expanded MHS, providing universal coverage for evaluation and treatment of first episode psychosis (FEP).

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Background: Although several studies have shown that social capital and social support decreases academic stress (AS), there has been lack of atheoretical model to explain how this occurs. This study aims to verify a model that explains the effect of bonding social capital (BSC) over academic stress psychological symptoms (PsyS), considering the multiple sequential mediation of socio-emotional support (SES), self-efficacy (sEffic) and self-esteem (sEstee). Methods: In a transversal study, 150 undergraduate volunteer students were recruited using non-probabilistic purposive sampling.

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Background: Substantial data from high-income countries support early interventions in the form of evidence-based Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) for people experiencing First Episode Psychosis (FEP) to ameliorate symptoms and minimize disability. Chile is unique among Latin American countries in providing universal access to FEP services through a national FEP policy that mandates the identification of FEP individuals in primary care and guarantees delivery of community-based FEP treatments within a public health care system. Nonetheless, previous research has documented that FEP services currently provided at mental health clinics do not provide evidence-based approaches.

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Objectives: To assess the baseline prevalence of mental health conditions and associated exposures in a cohort of health care workers (HCWs) in Guatemala.

Methods: We analyzed baseline information from the 2020 Web-based COVID-19 Health Care Workers Study (HEROES)-Guatemala. Outcomes included mental distress and depressive symptoms.

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To assess the baseline prevalence of mental health conditions and associated exposures in a cohort of health care workers (HCWs) in Guatemala. We analyzed baseline information from the 2020 Web-based COVID-19 Health Care Workers Study (HEROES)-Guatemala. Outcomes included mental distress and depressive symptoms.

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