Pandemic grief in El Salvador: factors that predict dysfunctional grief due to a COVID-19 death among Salvadoran adults

• Autores: Lobos-Rivera, Marlon Elías, Flores-Monterrosa, Angélica Nohemy, Tejada-Rodríguez, Jennifer Carolina, Chacón-Andrade, Edgardo René, Caycho-Rodríguez, Tomás, Lee, Sherman A., Valencia, Pablo D., Carbajal-León, Carlos, Vilca, Lindsey W., Reyes-Bossio, Mario, Gallegos, Miguel
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2023
• Institución: Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
• Repositorio: UPC-Institucional
• Lenguaje: inglés
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorioacademico.upc.edu.pe:10757/668586
• Enlace del recurso: http://hdl.handle.net/10757/668586
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Anxiety; COVID-19; Grief; Pandemic; Salvadorans; El Salvador; Mental health; Dysfunctional grief; Salvadoran adults; Digital survey; Coronavirus anxiety; Predictor variables; Binary logistic regression; Dysfunctional bereavement

Thousands of people have died of COVID-19 in El Salvador. However, little is known about the mental health of those who are mourning the loss of a loved one to COVID-19. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the dysfunctional grief associated with COVID-19 death among Salvadoran adults. A sample of 435 Salvadorans (M = 29 years; SD = 8.75) who lost a family member or loved one to COVID-19 completed a digital survey using the Google Forms platform, during April 2 and 28, 2022. The results revealed that 35.1% reported clinically elevated symptoms of dysfunctional grief and among those mourners, and 25.1% also exhibited clinical levels of coronavirus anxiety. A binary logistic regression revealed that predictor variables such as COVID-19 anxiety (p =.003), depression (p =.021), and COVID-19 obsession (p =.032) were significant (χ2 = 84.31; Nagelkerke R2 =.242) and predict a 24.2% chance of dysfunctional bereavement.