The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of healthcare workers and their professional quality of life. This quantitative cross-sectional study aims at exploring the professional quality of life, work engagement, and self-care of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador. A convenience sample of 117 participants completed an online voluntary and anonymous survey between April and July 2020. It contained a sociodemographic section, the Professional Quality of Life questionnaire V, the work engagement scale, and the scale of self-care behaviors for clinical psychologists. Results show that healthcare workers have an average quality of life with high levels of compassion satisfaction and average levels of compassion fatigue and burnout. Data also indicate that the sample frequently engaged in self-care practices and had high levels of work engagement. The regression analyses reveal that gender, the number of patients per week, the perceived fairness of the salary, among other variables are possible predictors of professional quality of life, frequency of self-care practices, and engagement. This study contributes to the understanding of these variables among healthcare professionals in Ecuador. These results should be considered when planning policies and prevention intervention efforts to promote professionals’ wellbeing.

Empathy plays a fundamental role in health related occupations. In this study, we analysed empathy levels in professionals (117) and students (170) from various healthcare fields in Ecuador during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index was used in an online survey. The results show high levels of empathy in both groups, influenced by age and gender. The students presented higher levels of personal distress, and their age was negatively correlated to empathy. Additionally, professionals working in physical health scored higher levels of personal distress compared to those in the field of emotional health. COVID-19 has placed social health systems in great stress. Despite this, the personal capacities for empathy of both students and health professionals have not been diminished.

They are participating as a volunteer implies active personal positioning accompanying others. Evidence supports that experiences of those who experience an illness, who are hospitalised or feel lonely, impact the volunteers: positive emotions like engagement and Compassion Satisfaction (CS) or, the reverse, Compassion Fatigue (CF). Motivations help us understand why volunteers spend their time on these activities. And self‐care practices will be a challenge to counteract the exhausting emotions of volunteering. This research presents a mixed, exploratory and sequential design study on the island of Majorca (Spain). The first phase (n = 216) was quantitative, gathering data from November 2018 to April 2019. Then, the second phase (two focus groups) started with qualitative data collection (July 2019). Firstly, the study determines CS and work engagement levels and examines the relationship between self‐care, CF and motivations. Secondly, the study finds out how they recognise their positive and negative emotions, their relationship with self‐care and what motivates them to be volunteers. The results show that the volunteers report highly positive feelings associated with their volunteering (CS and engagement) and are backed up by a good level of personal Self‐Care. The Understanding and Enhancement motivational functions generate even more positive feelings for the volunteers themselves, who attach a positive value to their experience of caring for others. Despite the positive results collected, we must not ignore the phenomenon of CF in relational volunteering and pain support because it occurs. After all, that could lead to abandonment by volunteers.

La vida universitaria, en sí misma, es considerada estresante. Si a ello le agregamos el impacto de una pandemia a nivel mundial, con las consiguientes adaptaciones que ello ha conllevado, nos encontramos ante un momento altamente crítico en la vida de los y las universitarias. Este artículo explora las conductas de autocuidado, el afrontamiento del estrés académico y la inteligencia emocional de estudiantes de carreras relacionadas con la salud durante la pandemia por COVID-19 en Ecuador. Además, analiza los factores que predicen la frecuencia de las conductas de autocuidado en esta población. La investigación consistió en un estudio cuantitativo transversal no experimental donde 170 estudiantes universitarios en Ecuador completaron un cuestionario anónimo en línea entre abril y julio 2020. Los hallazgos indican relaciones significativas entre autocuidado, inteligencia emocional y afrontamiento del estrés académico. Los resultados muestran niveles promedio de autocuidado, afrontamiento del estrés académico e inteligencia emocional. Este artículo identifica también que la regulación emocional predice la práctica del autocuidado. Las conclusiones nos llevan a potenciar las estrategias efectivas de autocuidado e inteligencia emocional en los y las futuras profesionales de lasalud, ya que estas influyen sobre el manejo del estrés.