Different Responses to Stress, Health Practices, and Self-Care during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Stratified Analysis

Elena Bermejo-Martins, Elkin O. Luis, Ainize Sarrionandia, Martín Martínez, María Sol Garcés, Edwin Y. Oliveros, Cristian Cortés-Rivera, Maider Belintxon and Pablo Fernández-Berrocal
Additional contact information
Elena Bermejo-Martins: School of Nursing, University of Navarra, 31009 Pamplona, Spain
Elkin O. Luis: Navarra Institute for Health Research, IdiSNA, 31009 Pamplona, Spain
Ainize Sarrionandia: Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
Martín Martínez: Navarra Institute for Health Research, IdiSNA, 31009 Pamplona, Spain
María Sol Garcés: Colegio de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Instituto de Neurociencias, Quito 170901, Ecuador
Edwin Y. Oliveros: Faculty of Psychology, University of San Buenaventura, Bogota 1008, Colombia
Cristian Cortés-Rivera: Faculty of Psychology, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago 7590943, Chile
Maider Belintxon: School of Nursing, University of Navarra, 31009 Pamplona, Spain
Pablo Fernández-Berrocal: Faculty of Psychology, University of Málaga, 29071 Malaga, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to analyze the differential impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown (3 April 2020) on stress, health practices, and self-care activities across different Hispanic countries, age range, and gender groups. One thousand and eighty-two participants from Spain, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador took part in this study. Irrespective of the country, and controlling for income level, young people, especially females, suffered a greater level of stress, perceived the situation as more severe, showed less adherence to health guidelines, and reported lower levels of health consciousness, in comparison to their male peers and older groups. However, in the case of self-care, it seems that older and female groups are generally more involved in self-care activities and adopt more healthy daily routines. These results are mostly similar between Colombia, Ecuador, and Spain. However, Chile showed some different tendencies, as males reported higher levels of healthy daily routines and better adherence to health guidelines compared to females and people over the age of 60. Differences between countries, genders, and age ranges should be considered in order to improve health recommendations and adherence to guidelines. Moreover, developing community action and intersectoral strategies with a gender-based approach could help to reduce health inequalities and increase the success of people’s adherence to health guidelines and self-care-promoting interventions. Future studies should be addressed to explore the possible causations of such differences in more cultural-distant samples and at later stages of the current outbreak.

Keywords: COVID-19; health practices; stress; self-care; cross-cultural study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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