Background: Previous studies have confirmed that parenting a child diagnosed with an intellectual disability (ID) can negatively affect the parents’ quality of life in several dimensions. However, fewer have assessed its impact years after the initial diagnosis. The objective of this work was to carry out an in-depth analysis of the current quality of life and concerns of both mothers and fathers of adults diagnosed with ID, having as a reference the moment of the diagnosis. Methods: 16 parents of adult children with ID were evaluated using a semi-structured interview format. A thematic qualitative analysis was carried out by employing ATLAS.ti software. Results: The results suggested that both the emotional and physical well-being of parents, as well as their interpersonal relationships, had declined. In addition, the multiple life changes that had occurred over the time considered in this study, as well as day-to-day worries, had prevented improvements in their quality of life. Conclusions: Several dimensions of the parents’ quality of life were affected years after a child is diagnosed with ID. These included poor physical and psychological health, economic difficulties, lack of social and family support, and lack of time for self-care.

Complicated grief (CG) is associated with alterations in various components of emotional processing. The main aim of this study was to identify brain activations in individuals diagnosed with CG while they were observing positive, negative, and death-related pictures. The participants included 19 individuals with CG and 19 healthy non-bereaved (NB) individuals. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were obtained during an emotional experience task. The perception of death-related pictures differed between the CG group and the NB group, with a greater activation in the former of the amygdala, putamen, hypothalamus, middle frontal gyrus, and anterior cingulate cortex. Amygdala and putamen activations were significantly correlated with Texas Revised Inventory of Grief scores in the CG group, suggesting that the higher level of grief in this group was associated with a greater activation in both brain areas while watching death-related pictures. A significant interaction between image type and group was observed in the amygdala, midbrain, periaqueductal gray, cerebellum, and hippocampus, largely driven by the greater activation of these areas in the CG group when watching death-related pictures and the lower activation when watching positive-valence pictures. In this study, individuals with CG showed significantly distinct brain activations in response to different emotional images.

Intellectual disability is characterized by a significant limitation in intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour before the age of 18 years (American Association on Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, 2010). The diagnosis considers disorders in conceptual, social and practical domains, according to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). More than 1,000 million people worldwide are considered to suffer some type of disability, and it has been estimated that there are 273,418 people with intellectual disability in Spain (Institute for the Elderly & Social Services, 2017; World Health Organization, 2011).An intellectual disability diagnosis can have a major impact on families, especially when unexpected (Bourke-Taylor et al., 2010;Van der Steen et al., 2016). It has been reported that parents first experience strong emotional shock, confusion, surprise, sadness, frustration, guilt and/or resentment, even denying the reality of the

Background: Health professionals present a greater vulnerability to the effects of COVID-19 on their mental health, especially those who work with vulnerable groups such as those who suffer from intellectual disability (ID). The objective of the present research was to develop and verify the effectiveness of a psychological intervention for professionals in the field of ID to improve their mental health during this health crisis. Methods: A total of 32 professionals participated. The variables measured were: post-traumatic growth, mental health, burnout, coping strategies, resilience, life satisfaction, optimism, and cognitive and affective empathy. Results: The results revealed statistically significant differences in the post-traumatic growth variable. In the rest of the variables (mental health, burnout, coping strategies, resilience, vital satisfaction, optimism, and empathy), no significant differences between groups were found. Conclusions: An increase in the levels of post-traumatic growth was observed in the intervention group after a brief online psychological intervention. However, given the small sample size, these results should be taken with caution. Institutions should foster and promote interventions aimed at reducing the high emotional impact produced by COVID-19 in professionals that care for people diagnosed with ID.

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Study of the neurodevelopment of children is vital to promote good quality of life during childhood. Few batteries showing adequate reliability and validity indices are available to evaluate the different neuropsychological domains. The objective of this study was to obtain initial evidence on the validity of the Computerized Battery for Neuropsychological Evaluation of Children (BENCI) in a Spanish population. To assess the validity of the BENCI battery and other measures of task switching, abstract reasoning, linguistic abilities, processing speed, and attention were used. The sample was composed of a total of 73 children aged 9, 10, and 11 years. Significant differences among age groups were observed in the domains of sustained attention, memory, and executive function. In addition, the BENCI subtests showed statistically significant correlations with the other neuropsychological tools. Further research is warranted on the relationship of the BENCI with other tests in wider age groups and to assess the factorial structure of the scale and the reliability values of the subtests. In conclusion, this study seems to indicate that the Spanish version of the BENCI has promising validity to be used for evaluating the main neuropsychological domains in children.

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Introducción: La obesidad y el sobrepeso infantil y juvenil se asocia con complicaciones graves de salud a nivel físico, psicológico y social. El objetivo del presente estudio fue explorar en profundidad la percepción que tienen padres y madres sobre los factores asociados con la obesidad y el sobrepeso de sus hijos adolescentes. Metodología: Estudio cualitativo de carácter fenomenológico descriptivo utilizando grupos focales. Participaron 25 padres y madres de adolescentes diagnosticados con Obesidad o Sobrepeso que se encontraban en seguimiento en el Servicio de Pediatría del Hospital Clínico San Cecilio (España). El análisis de los datos se llevó a cabo con el software Atlas.ti 6.2 a través de un análisis temático. Resultados: La falta de límite con la comida es percibida como una fuente de conflictos y de ansiedad. Los hábitos vitales no saludables más comunes son el sedentarismo, la falta de tiempo para cocinar y no desayunar. Las percepciones de los progenitores sobre los efectos negativos de la obesidad se relacionan con acontecimientos de carácter traumático, los efectos sobre la imagen corporal, el aislamiento y la discriminación y la aparición de otras enfermedades asociadas al exceso de peso. Se observan factores moduladores del comportamiento alimentario como el fomento de hábitos saludables en el entorno escolar, la toma de conciencia del problema, la planificación de las comidas, hablar sobre el tema y la búsqueda de soluciones. Conclusiones: En el abordaje de la malnutrición por exceso, los progenitores encuentran obstáculos que dificultan el cambio y la mejora en esta población. Así, es necesario abordar la obesidad y el sobrepeso como un problema multifactorial.