High levels of stress in the parenting domain can lead to parental burnout, a condition that has severe consequences for both parents and children. It is not yet clear, however, whether parental burnout varies by culture, and if so, why it might do so. In this study, we examined the prevalence of parental burnout in 42 countries (17,409 parents; 71% mothers; M age = 39.20) and showed that the prevalence of parental burnout varies dramatically across countries. Analyses of cultural values revealed that individualistic cultures, in particular, displayed a noticeably higher prevalence and mean level of parental burnout. Indeed, individualism plays a larger role in parental burnout than either economic inequalities across countries, or any other individual and family characteristic examined so far, including the number and age of children and the number of hours spent with them. These results suggest that cultural values in Western countries may put parents under heightened levels of stress.

Objective This work aimed to analyze parental burnout (PB) and establish a comparison between the times before (Wave 1) and during (Wave 2) the COVID‐19 pandemic. Background The COVID‐19 pandemic brought additional stress to families. The pandemic could be particularly difficult for parents experiencing parental burnout, a condition that involves four dimensions: an overwhelming sense of exhaustion, emotional distancing from the child, saturation or a loss of fulfillment with the parental role, and a sharp contrast between how parents used to be and how they see themselves now. Method A quasi‐longitudinal research design was adopted, comparing two cross‐sectional studies among Portuguese parents (N = 995), with an interval of 2 years between each wave of data collection. Participants were surveyed voluntarily through an online questionnaire located on the institutional web platform of the universities involved in the study. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to take into account the associations among variables, alongside controlling the possible confounding effects. Results Parents have overall higher parental burnout scores in Wave 2 than Wave 1, with increased exhaustion, emotional distancing, and contrast, but decreased saturation. Although parental burnout levels remain higher for mothers across the two Waves, the growth is greater for fathers than for mothers. Conclusion Reconciling childcare with paid work is a stressful and new experience for many fathers. However, results suggest that even amid a crisis, some parents had the opportunity to deeply bond with their children. Implications We expect this work to encourage stakeholders to consider proper intervention strategies to address potential parental burnout. Also, initiatives that strengthen gender equity within parenting context are needed.

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Abstract. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all societies worldwide. The heightened levels of stress that accompanied the crisis were also expected to affect parenting in many families. Since it is known that high levels of stress in the parenting domain can lead to a condition that has severe consequences for health and well-being, we examined whether the prevalence of parental burnout in 26 countries (9,923 parents; 75% mothers; mean age 40) increased during COVID-19 compared to few years before the pandemic. In most (but not all) countries, analyses showed a significant increase in the prevalence of parental burnout during the pandemic. The results further revealed that next to governmental measures (e.g., number of days locked down, homeschooling) and factors at the individual and family level (e.g., gender, number of children), parents in less (vs. more) indulgent countries suffered more from parental burnout. The findings suggest that stricter norms regarding their parenting roles and duties in general and during the pandemic in particular might have increased their levels of parental burnout.

There has been an increasing attention to the study of stress. Particularly, college students often experience high levels of stress that are linked to several negative outcomes concerning academic functioning, physical, and mental health. In this paper, we introduce the EuStress Solution, that aims to create an Information System to monitor and assess, continuously and in real-time, the stress levels of the students in order to predict burnout. The Information System will use a measuring instrument based on wearable device and machine learning techniques to collect and process stress-related data from the students without their explicit interaction. In the present study, we focus on heart rate and heart rate variability indices, by comparing baseline and stress condition. We performed different statistical tests in order to develop a complex and intelligent model. Results showed the neural network had the better model fit. KeywordsStress . Heart rate variability metrics . Wearable devices . Medical students This article is part of the Topical Collection on Mobile & Wireless Health

In Western countries, recent decades have witnessed a revolution toward gender equality. Inequalities have been greatly reduced in areas such as education or employment. Because inequalities lead to distress, this development has largely benefited women. One notable exception is the realm of parenting, which has remained rife with inequalities even in the most egalitarian countries. We hypothesized that experiencing inequality in parenting when one holds egalitarian values and raising a child in a country characterized by a high level of gender equality in other areas, increases mothers’ psychological distress in the specific area of parenting. Multilevel modeling analyses computed among 11,538 mothers from 40 countries confirmed this prediction: high egalitarian values at the individual level and high gender equality at the societal level are associated with higher burnout levels in mothers. The associations hold beyond differences in sociodemographic characteristics at the individual level and beyond economic disparities at the societal level. These findings show the importance of egalitarian values and gender equality and their paradoxical effect when inequalities are still present in specific areas as parenting. This study reveals the crucial need to act not only at the micro level but also at the macro level to promote gender equality in parenting and prevent parental burnout.

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Cancer is a serious disease that causes significant disability and suffering, so naturally Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is a major concern of patients, families and clinicians. This paper intends to relate biometric indices, in terms of HRV metrics, with self-perceived HRQoL from patients with lymphoma. Patients (N = 12) answered FACT questionnaire and used a smartband that collected biometrical data in real-time along the chemotherapy treatment. Our results revealed that Physical Well-Being, Total, Lymphoma subscale and FACT-Lym Trial Outcome domains seem to have a similar pattern that HRV metrics across the treatment cycles. In specific, the FACT domains and the HRV metrics have the lowest average levels on the first cycle and seem to increase along the following cycles (3 rd and 6 th cycles). This approach of continuous assessment of HRQoL will enable a better accuracy and more supported clinical decision.