Relación entre la salud mental, la soledad, y el conflicto trabajo-familia en docentes universitarios de la zona 6 del Ecuador

Abstract

Abstract: The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between mental health, loneliness, and work-family conflict among university professors in Zone 6 of Ecuador. To this end, a non-experimental quantitative approach was adopted, featuring a cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlational design. The sample consisted of 463 university professors; instruments used included an *ad hoc* sociodemographic and occupational questionnaire, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), the UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA-3), and the Survey Work-home Interaction - Nijmegen (SWING). Regarding the results, 74.5%, 91.8%, and 89.4% of the sample reported mild symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety, respectively. Positive family-work interaction showed the highest mean score, and a significant positive correlation was found (rho = .370; .336; .374; p < .001) between mental health and the perception of loneliness, as well as between mental health and negative work-family interaction (rho = .218; .186; .226; p < .001). The findings demonstrated that the perception of loneliness and work-family conflict are significantly associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and stress among university professors.