Accepted: 1 Nov. 2021 Introduction: The objective of this article is to determine the psychological factors which are associated with the fear toward COVID-19 as experienced by the Salvadoran population in general. Method: This study is exploratory, with a cross-sectional design. For data collection a digital survey in Google Forms was used. There was a non-probabilistic sample of 328 Salvadorans. The mean age in general was 27.90 years-old, with a standard deviation (SD) of 9.10; the mean age for men was 29.05 years-old (SD = 9.94), and the mean age for woman was 27.42 years-old (SD = 8.70). Results: The results reveal the existence of small and medium correlations between anxiety, depression, instrumental support and positive social interaction with the variables of fear to COVID-19; the regression model predicted that the fear to COVID-19 depends on anxiety and affective support, pred...

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; Nagelke...

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; Nagelke...

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...

Deaths from COVID-19 have exceeded 6.5 million people globally. Although many people are mourning the loss of loved ones to this deadly disease, little is known about the validity of measuring coronavirus-related anxiety with this particular group of people. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine if the coronavirus anxiety scale (CAS) measures the coronaphobia construct the same way for mourners with and without dysfunctional levels of grief. The results indicated that the four-item version of the CAS has acceptable fit indices and is partially invariant between people with dysfunctional and non-dysfunctional grief. Moreover, the CAS demonstrated adequate criterion validity and reliability with this group of bereaved adults. In conclusion, the CAS can be used to measure anxiety due to COVID-19 in people who are going through dysfunctional and non-dysfunctional grieving pr...

The objective of this study was to translate and psychometrically evaluate a Spanish version of the Grief Impairment Scale (GIS) using a sample of bereaved adults from El Salvador (N = 579). The results confirm the unidimensional structure of the GIS, and solid reliability, item characteristics, and criterion-related validity, where the GIS scale significantly and positively predicts depression. However, this instrument only showed evidence of configural and metric invariance between different sex groups. Overall, these results support the Spanish version of the GIS as a psychometrically sound screening tool for health professionals and researchers to use in their clinical work.