- The data was collected through surveys in several states of the country | Photo: Georgette Sahhar / El Diario
The School of Psychology at the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB) presented the results of PsicoData 2024, a study that offers statistics on the psychosocial situation of Venezuelans.
The research was carried out through data collection with surveys conducted in several states of the country and aims to make decisions and adopt more effective strategies in psychological projects developed in Venezuela.
The coordinating team of PsicoData 2024 is made up of Luisa Angelucci, Ángel Oropeza, Adle Hernández, José Eduardo Rondón and Celibeth Guarin.
The director of the UCAB School of Psychology, Danny Socorro, said that in the 2024 edition they deepened several aspects of the study and conducted 2,000 surveys. compared to the 1,500 they collected in 2023.
Socorro said that in Venezuela there are still taboos about mental health and there is a social stigma surrounding it, which means that the processes are carried out personally and are experienced in private.
“Insurance does not even cover mental health issues. Today we have this compass to pave the way for mental health to become a matter of public health,” added the UCAB expert.
Psychological factors
Ángel Oropeza, psychologist and professor at UCAB, stressed that there cannot be adequate treatment without an accurate diagnosis and that is what was developed with PsicoData.
“Psychosocial vulnerability is the umbrella factor that we take into account at PsicoData,” explained the specialist.
Professor Ángel Oropeza highlighted the psychological factors that protect people from a hostile environment, such as resilience, which refers to a person’s ability to adapt.
In this section, the results revealed that 75% of the population has a moderate capacity to develop adaptive skills while 23% report a high capacity, mainly in the Central and Capital regions of the country.
People between 25 and 34 years of age show higher levels of resilience to everyday challenges.
Another factor mentioned in the PsicoData 2024 study is optimism, which found that 63% of respondents showed moderate levels of optimism, 33% a high level, and 4% scored low on this variable.
Another of the topics evaluated was life satisfaction. In this variable, 75% perceived a moderate level of satisfaction, 23% expressed high life satisfaction and 2% had a low perception in this aspect.
In another aspect, the survey revealed that 80% of the people surveyed consider that they have control over their actions.
The religiosity factor also stood out in PsicoData 2024, revealing that 65% of the group between 18 and 24 years of age do not usually pray. Those over 45 years of age, when asked about the use of prayer, reported that 89% did.
Risk factor’s
The study also addressed other psychosocial factors, known as risk factors, including fear and anxiety. In this regard, 54% of respondents said they felt both.
50% reported feeling anger, hostility and aggression towards people, and another 50% reported feeling sad, passive and in low spirits.
Adle Hernández, a professor at the UCAB School of Psychology, said that these risk factors have a negative impact on people’s vulnerability.
Other variables addressed in the survey focused on the feeling of hopelessness of the Venezuelan population. The results showed that 38% of people feel moderate levels of hopelessness in this regard.
Furthermore, 44% of respondents perceive the future as hopeless and 51% indicated that they rarely expect good things to happen.
In the interpersonal trust factor, 89% of people consider that others cannot be trusted.
Hernández added that one of the sources of stress for those surveyed is the economic factor (47%), followed by health (23%), personal issues (15%), political factors (11%) and social factors (4%).
The study determined that coping styles, which are the set of strategies for managing difficult situations, include: self-blame, denial, positive reinterpretation, venting and humor.
Proposals related to the results of PsicoData 2024
Father Socorro was in charge of listing the five proposals related to mental health after analyzing the results of the PsicoData 2024 study.
1. Treat mental health as a public health problem.
2. Implement a suicide prevention programme (psychosocial camps, free telephone support and training proposals).
3. Create a psychological first aid program in organizations and institutions.
4. Establish a program to care for and strengthen mental health in companies.
5. Start a program to strengthen citizenship (training in mental health management and awareness).
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2024-07-02 17:28:59