Diagnostic evaluation of the psychological effects generated by confinement in a time of pandemic

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the psychological effects of people (students, teachers, administrative and service personnel) belonging to the faculty of education, science and technology of a public university in northern Ecuador, after the mandatory confinement period, decreed as of March 2020 by the Presidency of Ecuador, in order to protect the health of the population during the critical period of the pandemic caused by the covid-19 virus. In this exploratory cross-sectional study, a survey made up of demographic questions and a screening test called SPEC (Psychological Screening in Critical Events) (Arias, 2020) was used, the sample was 1444 people and it was implemented through electronic means distributed through the digital channels of the institution. The results found show that there is a high population with problems related to anxiety (19.7%), depression (11.7%), trauma (10.3%), aggressiveness (32.6%) and even suicide. (8.9%) and that comorbidity is very common in many cases of the problems evaluated. It is not known for sure if the problems evaluated were developed prior to the pandemic because there are no similar studies and if confinement served as a trigger for many of them, but the results make us think about what can be done to minimize or mitigate possible psychopathological reactions, not only of the population studied but of the population in general.