This chapter explores the foundations of humanistic businesses. It presents a three-pillar approach based on successful business cases and qualitative research, including CEO and stakeholder interviews. The key pillars for humanistic businesses and leadership are a higher purpose, innovative management, and authenticity. Deep listening is also highlighted. The chapter provides practical guidance for SMEs to improve engagement, motivation, and competitiveness, emphasizing soft skills like humility and sensitivity. It's a resource for purpose-driven business networks like conscious capitalism and b-corporations, showcasing essential pillars and skills for impactful businesses and leaders. The research's uniqueness lies in its ability to translate humanistic management into challenging regions, like Colombia's VUCA area, affected by violence, displacement, and poverty over 25 years, offering practical hope and insights for global implementation.

Abstract Materials and Methods The study adopted a scoping review approach in order to explore and synthesise the existing scientific literature on the relationship between physical literacy and cardiorespiratory fitness. This methodological approach was selected because of its efficency in quickly gathering and mapping relevant information, following the recommendations of the PRISMA standard for scoping review. Results Preliminary findings from this research indicate that there is a dynamic and close interaction between physical literacy and cardiorespiratory fitness. This relationship highlights the holistic nature of physical literacy, whereby knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to physical activity are closely linked and intertwined with cardiorespiratory health. Conclussions: This cycle generates positive outcomes, as physical literacy encourages and inspires individuals to engage in sustainable physical activity.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating psychiatric disorder. Worldwide, its prevalence is ~2% and its etiology is mostly unknown. Identifying biological factors contributing to OCD will elucidate underlying mechanisms and might contribute to improved treatment outcomes. Genomic studies of OCD are beginning to reveal long-sought risk loci, but >95% of the cases currently in analysis are of homogenous European ancestry. If not addressed, this Eurocentric bias will result in OCD genomic findings being more accurate for individuals of European ancestry than other ancestries, thereby contributing to health disparities in potential future applications of genomics. In this study protocol paper, we describe the Latin American Trans-ancestry INitiative for OCD genomics (LATINO, https://www.latinostudy.org). LATINO is a new network of investigators from across Latin America, the United States, and Canada who have begun to collect DNA and clinical data from 5000 richly phenotyped OCD cases of Latin American ancestry in a culturally sensitive and ethical manner. In this project, we will utilize trans-ancestry genomic analyses to accelerate the identification of OCD risk loci, fine-map putative causal variants, and improve the performance of polygenic risk scores in diverse populations. We will also capitalize on rich clinical data to examine the genetics of treatment response, biologically plausible OCD subtypes, and symptom dimensions. Additionally, LATINO will help elucidate the diversity of the clinical presentations of OCD across cultures through various trainings developed and offered in collaboration with Latin American investigators. We believe this study will advance the important goal of global mental health discovery and equity.

ObjectivesThe present study aimed to evaluate the measurement invariance of a general measure of the perception of governmental responses to COVID-|19 (COVID-SCORE-10) in the general population of 13 Latin American countries.MethodsA total of 5780 individuals from 13 Latin American and Caribbean countries selected by non-probabilistic snowball sampling participated. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed and the alignment method was used to evaluate invariance. Additionally, a graded response model was used for the assessment of item characteristics.ResultsThe results indicate that there is approximate measurement invariance of the COVID-SCORE-10 among the participating countries. Furthermore, IRT results suggest that the COVID-SCORE-10 measures with good psychometric ability a broad spectrum of the construct assessed, especially around average levels. Comparison of COVID-SCORE-10 scores indicated that participants from Cuba, Uruguay and El Salvador had the most positive perceptions of government actions to address the pandemic. Thus, the underlying construct of perception of government actions was equivalent in all countries.ConclusionThe results show the importance of initially establishing the fundamental measurement properties and MI before inferring the cross-cultural universality of the construct to be measured.

The present study aimed to evaluate the measurement invariance of the Obsession with COVID-19 Scale (OCS) among seven Latin American countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Although the OCS has been used in several countries and languages, there is a need for approaches that better integrate the cross-cultural equivalence of the scale. A total of 3185 people participated in the study. The results indicated the presence of a unidimensional structure and good reliability indices for the OCS in each country. The alignment method indicated that the OCS is an invariant measure of COVID-19 obsession among the populations of seven Latin American countries. The findings based on IRT analysis indicated that all OCS items had adequate discrimination and difficulty parameters. The findings contribute to the understanding of the internal structure of the scale in different countries at the same time, something that has been pending evaluation.

The present study aimed to apply a network analysis model to provide an exploratory empirical conceptualization of dynamic networks of posttraumatic growth (PTG) symptoms in 7,434 people who experienced the death of a loved one from COVID-19 in 16 Latin American countries. The Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory: Short Form of Eight Items was used. A non-regularized network with partial correlation coefficients was estimated through the ggmModSelect algorithm. The network architecture was analyzed for each country through its local properties and global properties. The results indicated that the networks differed significantly between countries. The core dimensions in the networks were relating to others, personal strength, and life value and opportunities, which were more related dimensions that reinforce the emergence of PTG in all countries. The findings may be useful to motivate researchers and mental health professionals to consider the importance of the individual dimensions of PTG in groups of people who experienced the death of a loved one from COVID-19 in 16 Latin American countries, as well as their interrelationships.

Introducción: la formación en bioética de los epidemiólogos repercute favorablemente en la salud de las comunidades, contribuye a la toma de decisiones éticas y ayuda a promover resultados sanitarios equitativos para todas las poblaciones. Objetivo: identificar las representaciones sociales –RS- de bioética en estudiantes de la especialización en epidemiología de una universidad en Pereira Risaralda, Colombia. Método: estudio cualitativo desde el enfoque teórico de la antropología cognitiva mediante el análisis procesual, prototípico y estructural de las Representaciones Sociales a través de técnicas asociativas: listado libre y cuestionario de comparación de pares para consolidar el contenido, la organización y representación gráfica de la RS de 17 estudiantes de especialización en epidemiología. Resultados: para los participantes la RS sobre Bioética gira en torno a la ética por la vida y respeto por los derechos humanos en su núcleo central, los aspectos que establecen los elementos periféricos de la representación se constituye en principios, moral, equidad, respeto y normas. Conclusiones: la RS de bioética en los epidemiólogos en formación es comprendida de manera amplia como una rama de la ética desde una perspectiva de derechos y de respeto a la vida.

Introducción: el uso de plantas medicinales es parte de la cultura tradicional de muchas poblaciones alrededor del mundo, se utilizan para prevenir enfermedades y preservar la salud de los individuos, siendo un conocimiento que conservan las madres y abuelas para el cuidado de la primera infancia. Sin embargo, existen muchos vacíos en la investigación con respecto al uso y propiedades de plantas medicinales en lactantes y población general. Objetivo: analizar y describir las prácticas y creencias con el uso ancestral de plantas medicinales en lactantes de la comunidad raizal en San Andrés Isla. Materiales y métodos: estudio cualitativo descriptivo etnográfico aplicado a una muestra por conveniencia de ocho abuelas de la comunidad Raizal de San Andrés Isla. Se realizó la descripción y el análisis de las ideas, prácticas sociales, comportamientos, creencias, significados y conocimientos en torno al uso de plantas medicinales en lactantes. Resultados: aún se conservan los conocimientos ancestrales con el uso de plantas medicinales liderado por las abuelas. El uso de plantas medicinales en lactantes se rige únicamente por la necesidad de manejo de situaciones de salud. En esta investigación se encontraron 23 ejemplares de plantas medicinales de uso en lactantes, de estas son pocas las que se encuentran registradas en el vademécum colombiano de plantas medicinales. Discusión: los hallazgos concuerdan con los resultados de otros estudios que evidencian la importancia de la tradición cultural en el cuidado de los lactantes, el protagonismo de la experiencia acumulada de las abuelas en estos saberes y prácticas; además de corroborar que el uso de plantas medicinales en lactantes se rige únicamente por la necesidad de cuidado ante situaciones de salud que lo ameritan. Solo dos ejemplares de las plantas medicinales clasificadas por las mujeres raizales de este estudio se encuentran referenciadas en el vademécum colombiano de plantas medicinales. Conclusiones: las plantas medicinales abordan un amplio espectro de usos y propiedades que necesitan un extenso estudio para su registro y divulgación.

BackgroundSelf-efficacy alludes to personal competence in an individual’s effectiveness when facing stressful situations. This construct has been related to different domains of the health field, finding that high levels of self-efficacy benefit human functioning and enhance well-being.MethodsThe present study aimed to determine the psychometric properties of the self-efficacy scale for managing chronic diseases (SEMCD-S) by assessing factorial, convergent and divergent validity, reliability, and measurement invariance. Likewise, the comparison of self-efficacy according to socio-demographic characteristics was proposed by contrasting latent factors. An instrumental, transactional, descriptive, and non-experimental design study was carried out with the participation of 325 Colombian senior citizens.ResultsThe findings suggest that the scale has appropriate psychometric properties. The one-factor structure exhibited a satisfactory fit, the mean-variance extracted reported acceptable figures and the correlation analysis with other constructs supported this instrument’s convergent and discriminant validity. Likewise, it was invariant to the different socio-demographic aspects examined, while the internal consistency figures were high. Differences in the means of the latent factors were only detected in the academic grade. In this case, older adults with a primary school level attained higher self-efficacy values than those who had completed high school or university studies.ConclusionsIt is concluded that the self-efficacy scale for chronic disease management is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used in the Colombian context to measure and compare this construct.