Professional development of women in rural areas in relation to sociodemographic variables, resilience and social capital.

DESIGNA descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out by means of a survey.STUDY POPULATION AND SAMPLE SIZEThe study population consisted of rural women from Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel. The sample was selected by means of a proportional sampling of the rural female population in the three provinces and aged between 25 and 65 years (both included). The participants were contacted through associative movements, associations, entrepreneurship and business support centers, women's associations, and women's associations, women's associations, health centers, Networks, etc.The sample size was calculated taking into account that the mean and standard deviation of the variable resilience in the general population, which is 26.87 (7.21) (Asensio Martínez et al., 2019). With a precision of 5% and a confidence interval of 95%, and increasing the sample by 10% due to losses, the sample size (Figure 1) had to be at least 177 participants. Finally, 229 women participated, thus exceeding the required sample size. Therefore, it can be considered that both the sample size and the distribution of the sample meet the quality criteria to consider a good external validity of the results.

STUDY VARIABLESSociodemographic, occupational, resilience and social capital variables were collected.The sociodemographic variables were: Date of birth, sex and gender identification, marital status, nationality, educational level, income level and economic situation (4 items).The occupational variables were: occupation, employment status, employment conditions (six items), domestic and care work (six items).Resilience can be defined as the process of overcoming the negative effects of exposure to risk, coping successfully with traumatic experiences and avoiding negative trajectories associated with risk (Fergus & Zimmerman, 2005). According to García-León et al. (2019), resilience acts through personal mechanisms, related to the person's own competencies (self-efficacy, self-esteem, use of coping strategies); and interpersonal mechanisms, related to social and family support, which help adaptation and adjustment to the situation. Serving as protection against the effects of stress and adversity. This variable has been assessed using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) (2003), which is a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 10 items, grouped into 5 components: The first is related to personal competence, tenacity and the pursuit of high standards. The second is related to tolerance of negative affect and reinforcing effects of stress. The third relates to positive acceptance of change and secure relationships. The fourth, to control and the fifth to spiritual influences. These items correspond to a Likert-type scale of 5 response options, ranging from 0 (never) to 4 (almost always). The final score is the sum of the responses to each item (range 0 to 40), with higher scores indicating higher levels of resilience. The Spanish version was validated by Soler Sánchez et al., 2016 and has demonstrated adequate internal consistency (α=0.87).Social capital has been assessed using the harmonized questionnaire proposed by Blaxter et al., 2001, which identifies 4 dimensions: 1) personal relationships, 2) social support network, 3) civic engagement, and 4) trust and cooperative norms. To interpret the results, the responses have been categorized and the percentage of the population falling into each category is calculated. The raw data can then be interpreted or compared to other populations.

ETHICAL ISSUESA positive opinion was obtained from the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Aragón (PI22/453). The procedures carried out in the development of this work have complied with the ethical standards of the aforementioned committee and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975. All subjects have given their informed consent, their data have been anonymized and will only be used for the purposes of the study. We have also obtained a positive opinion on data protection from the University of Zaragoza, reference number RAT 2022-154.