Cambios en los comportamientos creativos antes y durante la pandemia: Un estudio de contraste con un grupo de adultos argentinos

Abstract

La emergencia sanitaria por COVID-19 ha transformado la vida de las personas en todo el mundo. La creatividad parece jugar un papel importante en la adaptación a nuevos contextos de incertidumbre. El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar cambios en los comportamientos creativos antes y durante la pandemia. Asimismo, interesa analizar relaciones entre acciones creativas, autopercepciones y crecimiento creativo en ese período. La muestra se conformó de manera no probabilística y por conveniencia. Participaron 204 personas de 18 a 70 años de edad, que residían en localidades pequeñas o medianas de la provincia de Córdoba (Argentina). Se administraron cuatro instrumentos de manera online entre septiembre y diciembre de 2021: Cuestionario Sociodemográfico y de Actividades en la Pandemia (CSAP), Cuestionario de Acciones Creativas (CAC), Escala de Autopercepciones Creativas (EAC) y Escala sobre Crecimiento Creativo en la Pandemia (ECCP). Los análisis indican un aumento significativo de acciones en el área de creatividad cotidiana durante la pandemia. Las más frecuentes fueron: cocinar, pintar, dibujar, hacer actividad física, realizar artesanías, leer y escribir. La mayoría de los participantes percibieron procesos de crecimiento creativo. Los análisis de correlación muestran relaciones de moderada intensidad entre autopercepciones y crecimiento en pandemia. También se observaron relaciones entre crecimiento percibido y acciones creativas cotidianas y artísticas. Las personas que desarrollaron nuevos emprendimientos obtuvieron puntajes superiores en acciones creativas, autopercepciones y crecimiento. Los conocimientos construidos pueden contribuir a las políticas de promoción del bienestar y la salud.

The COVID-19 emergency has transformed the lives of people around the world. Creativity seems to play an important role in adapting to new contexts of uncertainty and in the search for alternatives. The aim of the research is to analyze changes in creative behaviors before and during the pandemic. Likewise, it is interesting to analyze relationships between creative actions, self-perceptions and creative growth during the pandemic. The sample was formed in a non-probabilistic way and for convenience. A total of 204 people between 18 and 70 years of age who reside in small or intermediate towns in the province of Córdoba (Argentina) participated. Four data collection instruments were used: Sociodemographic and Activities in the Pandemic Questionnaire (CSAP), Creative Actions Questionnaire (CAC), Creative Self-Perceptions Scale (EAC) and Creative Growth in the Pandemic Scale (ECCP). The instruments were administered online between September and December 2021. Statistical analyzes were performed with the SPSS version 20 program. Descriptive studies of the variables were performed and non-parametric correlational and mean comparison tests were used. The analyzes indicate significant increases in creative actions in the area of everyday creativity during the pandemic. In agreement with previous studies, it was observed that cooking is the creative activity mentioned by most of the participants. Likewise, they indicate activities such as making crafts, painting, drawing, doing physical activity, reading and writing as frequent in confinement. Several have mentioned that playing and spending time with the family are creative actions they have taken during isolation. The teachers who participated in the study describe creative activities linked to virtual teaching. Most of the participants perceive processes of creative growth during the pandemic. Correlational studies show relationships of moderate intensity between self-perceptions and growth in a pandemic. Relations were also observed between growth and creative actions in everyday creativity and arts. The people who developed new ventures obtained higher average scores in all the variables considered: creative actions, self-perceptions and growth. The limitations and restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the economic difficulties and the family problems seem to have demanded greater creative actions in solving everyday problems. Resilience, flexibility and creative adaptability could have played an important role in the construction of new forms of life. Flexibility as a key component of creativity is a necessary resource to make appropriate decisions and face crisis situations, considering different alternatives and possibilities. The reconstruction of times and family, work and leisure activities, the reconfiguration of the home as a space for the simultaneous performance of tasks and the impossibility of having help in care tasks has generated a context of multiple emerging problems and the need to search of alternatives. Everyday creativity as the potential to generate innovative, original and alternative actions and products in daily life seems to have been strengthened, perhaps in a forced way, in times of health emergency. The development of enterprises also accounts for creative processes linked to the search for alternatives to subsist in times of uncertainty, creating innovative products and dissemination, sale and distribution strategies. The pandemic also appears as an opportunity for creative growth, as expressed by the vast majority of participants and reflected in the creative activities reported. The interest in resuming postponed projects, especially linked to personal training, is one of the results that stand out in this study. It is of interest in future longitudinal research to analyze whether these projects have been consolidated at other times of the pandemic. The knowledge built can contribute to policies to promote well-being and health.