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 Privada Norbert Wiener
• Repositorio: UWIENER-Institucional
• Lenguaje: inglés
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.uwiener.edu.pe:20.500.13053/9392
• Enlace del recurso: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13053/9392; https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-023-00250-6
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Grief, Pandemic, COVID-19, Salvadorans, Anxiety; 3.00.00 -- Ciencias médicas, Ciencias de la salud

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.