Qualidades psicométricas de uma versão remota do Teste de Pfister no contexto da Covid-19

Abstract

Psychological tests can be an important auxiliary tool in understanding emotions, especially projective methods. The Pfister Colored Pyramids Test (CPT) is an example of a projective test that seeks to assess the emotional dynamics and cognitive functioning of the analyzed person and that has a favorable opinion for use in its non-computerized version. The increasingly frequent demands and discussions for the use of psychological tests mediated by Digital Information and Communication Technologies arise with the prospect of the possibility of scientific advancement in the area and expansion of evaluation processes in contexts other than the face-to-face application of psychological instruments. It was also in this context that the COVID-19 pandemic was presented as a booster of this movement that was already prosperous in the country. The pandemic itself may have had psychological impacts that are still not completely understood, as is the case with people who have gone through social isolation as a result of a hospitalization process due to COVID-19. In order to understand such factors related to the emotional aspects of these people, it is necessary, first, to have consistent psychological instruments for this purpose. Thus, the aim of the study was to seek evidence of validity and temporal precision estimates for the use of a remote version of the TPC. A total of 100 adults, aged between 23 and 74 years old (M=50.2; SD=11.4), residing in the city of Fortaleza-CE and with a level of education above the 6th grade of Elementary School, participated in the survey. The participants were divided into two groups, namely, 50 people who were admitted and isolated in hospitals due to a COVID-19 infection and 50 people who did not receive a diagnosis of COVID-19. Data collection was performed in the remote format in two moments. In the first, an Identification Questionnaire and the remote version of the TPC were administered. In the second moment, a new application of the TPC was carried out in 70 participants of the 1st stage, selected at random. Descriptive statistical analyzes of the research sample and the TPC variables, analysis of concordance of the TPC codings by Kappa, Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test of normality were performed to verify whether the sample characteristics could be considered normal, as well as the Mann U test -Whitney, chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis to seek evidence of validity and McNemar's exact test to verify the temporal accuracy of the TPC. As a result, a higher ranked average of the cold syndrome variable was observed in the group of people who were not diagnosed with COVID-19, statistically significant associations for the color brown and for the amplitude of the chromatic formulas in people who were unemployed at the time of the pandemic, as well as for the color blue in participants who were hospitalized in wards. In addition, statistically significant associations and comparisons were obtained for color frequency variables, chromatic syndromes, formal appearance, placement mode and special signs of TPC according to schooling, gender and age group. In this sense, there seems to be a possibility that participants who experienced a hospitalization process as a result of a COVID-19 infection did not experience considerable interference in their emotional dynamics and cognitive functioning, which significantly differentiate them from people who do not. have been diagnosed with this virus. In addition, an adequate estimation of the temporal precision of the TPC variables was identified. It is concluded, therefore, that the present research contributed to studies of the psychometric qualities of a remote version of the TPC, in particular the evidence of validity and accuracy estimates of this test.