Factores individuales que protegen o favorecen el riesgo de suicidio adolescente: estudio cualitativo con grupos focales

El objetivo del presente estudio fue conocer los factores individuales asociados al riesgo y protección ante el suicidio en adolescentes de una preparatoria de la Universidad de Guadalajara, México; desde la visión de estudiantes, profesores y terapeutas. Mediante un análisis cualitativo de la información obtenida a través de los grupos focales, se encontró que los principales factores de riesgo son la depresión, el manejo inadecuado de emociones y la carencia de un sentido de vida; mientras que los factores que protegen del riesgo suicida son, la capacidad de resolución de problemas, el optimismo y la autoestima. Los hallazgos se discuten desde el soporte de la literatura especializada, así mismo se realizan recomendaciones e implicaciones prácticas.

Factor structure and internal reliability of an exercise health belief model scale in a Mexican population

Background

Mexico is one of the countries with the highest rates of overweight and obesity around the world, with 68.8% of men and 73% of women reporting both. This is a public health problem since there are several health related consequences of not exercising, like having cardiovascular diseases or some types of cancers. All of these problems can be prevented by promoting exercise, so it is important to evaluate models of health behaviors to achieve this goal. Among several models the Health Belief Model is one of the most studied models to promote health related behaviors. This study validates the first exercise scale based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) in Mexicans with the objective of studying and analyzing this model in Mexico.

Methods

Items for the scale called the Exercise Health Belief Model Scale (EHBMS) were developed by a health research team, then the items were applied to a sample of 746 participants, male and female, from five cities in Mexico. The factor structure of the items was analyzed with an exploratory factor analysis and the internal reliability with Cronbach’s alpha.

Results

The exploratory factor analysis reported the expected factor structure based in the HBM. The KMO index (0.92) and the Barlett’s sphericity test (p < 0.01) indicated an adequate and normally distributed sample. Items had adequate factor loadings, ranging from 0.31 to 0.92, and the internal consistencies of the factors were also acceptable, with alpha values ranging from 0.67 to 0.91.

Conclusions

The EHBMS is a validated scale that can be used to measure exercise based on the HBM in Mexican populations.