Juan Antonio Becerra-García, Irene Valdivieso, Sara Barbeito
et al.
Objective: In Spain, there is no detailed information on the psychometric characteristics of the COVID-19 related Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10-C). This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the PSS-10-C in the general Spanish population. Methods: The sample was selected using a non-probabilistic incidental sampling method. A psychometric study was performed with 290 participants (18–65 years). We used the PSS-10-C and an ad-hoc sociodemographic questionnaire. These instruments were administered in an online format. The data was collected between March and April 2021. Internal consistency, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and K-means cluster analysis were carried out. Results: The PSS-10-C presented good internal consistency (α = 0.87) and a unidimensional structure of 10 items (which explained 46.1 % of the variance). We identified a cut-off point ≥ 26 as a reference for high-perceived stress and, consequently, identified that 5.9 % of the participants had high levels of COVID-19 related-stress. Conclusions: The PSS-10-C may be a helpful tool for assessing the general Spanish population's perceived stress associated to COVID-19. This preliminary study may be of interest for Spanish health professionals since report the specific PSS-10-C psychometric characteristics in the local population. It would be necessary to deepen into the psychometric study of the scale (i.e., examining convergent and discriminant validity).
Cristiano Scandurra, Selene Mezzalira, Silvia Aviani
et al.
Background: The current study aimed at assessing the levels of perinatal depression (i.e., both antenatal and postnatal) during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in a group of Italian women, as well as to evaluate the role of loneliness, anxiety, and lack of maternal support in cumulatively predicting perinatal depression. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 200 Italian women recruited during a peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy (i.e., from September to December 2021) from a single prenatal clinic in Southern Italy. A non-parametric binomial test was conducted to assess whether the perinatal depression frequencies of the current sample differed from those found in a pre-Covid reference group. Additionally, hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses assessing whether loneliness, anxiety, and maternal support affected women's perinatal depression were also conducted. Results: The general prevalence of perinatal depression was significantly higher in participants recruited during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-Covid reference group (29% vs. 9.2%). However, results showed that, contrary to postnatal depression (18.2% vs. 19.9%), only the prevalence of antenatal depression was significantly higher compared to the pre-Covid reference group (39.6% vs. 6.4%). Furthermore, loneliness and anxiety, but not maternal support, were associated with higher levels of PD. Limitations: Limitations concerned the cross-sectional nature of the study and the relatively small sample size. Conclusions: This study sheds light on the need to address perinatal mental health of women during major stressful events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harsh Jain, Karthick Subramanian, Keni Gowsi
et al.
Background: Inadequate knowledge and awareness about transgenderism among doctors can lead to inadequate health-care services to transgender persons. Objective: To assess the prevalent attitudes and beliefs toward transgender persons amongst medical undergraduates. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional observational study included medical undergraduates of both gender in a tertiary care hospital. The students belonged to “early clinical phase” (yet to start clinical postings). The sociodemographic characteristics and academic and social exposure to transgender-related issues were recorded using a semi-structured proforma. Transgender Attitudes and Beliefs Scale was used to assess the attitudes and beliefs toward transgender persons. Statistical significance was set at P < .05. Results: Of the 170 second-year medical students, majority reported negligible social exposure (71.3%) and academic exposure (81.6%) to transgenderism. Female students displayed better attitudes and beliefs toward transgender persons than their male counterparts. Conclusions: Medical undergraduates require systematic academic exposure to transgender-related health issues. Gender differences exist among medical undergraduates in the beliefs and attitudes toward transgenderism.
Cristiane da Câmara Marques, Bárbara Coeli Oliveira da Silva, Vanessa Pinheiro Barreto
et al.
ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of risk factors for infection that add up to the nursing diagnosis risk of infection in people with AIDS who are hospitalized. Method: Accuracy study with case-control design carried out with a total of 208 people living with AIDS and hospitalized between 2010 and 2016. The cases comprised people living with HIV, hospitalized and who developed infection related to health care and controls to those who did not develop it. Secondary data from medical records and research forms were used to respond to the data collection instrument for sociodemographic, clinical evaluation and investigation of the presence or absence of risk factors. The accuracy of clinical diagnostic indicators was measured through specificity, sensitivity and predictive values. Results: The risk factor that showed the greatest sensitivity and specificity was chronic illness, while the invasive procedure and the change in the integrity of the skin had the highest positive predictive value. Conclusion: Accurate diagnoses allow nurses to build a nursing intervention plan aimed at the needs of this population.
Conrad E. Vissink, Hendrika Heiltje van Hell, Niek Galenkamp
et al.
Background COVID-19 has seriously affected physical and mental health world-wide,both due to spreading of the virus and due to the socially restrictive measures most governments have enforced. Increased anxiety, stress and depressive symptoms have been widely reported in the general population. The current study investigated the effects of COVID and the restrictive measures in the Netherlands on stress, anxiety and loneliness in patients with a pre-existing psychiatric disorder. Methods 189 patients with a pre-existing psychiatric disorder treated at the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU) provided consent to participate in an electronically provided survey. Questionnaires on anxiety, depressive symptoms, worry, stress and general health were completed by 148 participants. Results All patients reported heightened distress as well as the presence of depressive symptoms and loneliness during the initial phase of the restrictive measures. Patients could be divided into two major subgroups with either psychotic disorder (n = 71) and affective disorder (n = 86). Patients with affective disorders were more affected by the outbreak and accompanying socially restrictive measures than patients with psychotic disorders. Conclusions Our findings indicate negative mental health effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictive measures in a particularly vulnerable population, with differential effects on diagnostic groups.
Dóris Helena Ribeiro Farias, Mauro Francisco Ferreira de Almeida, Giovana Calcagno Gomes
et al.
ABSTRACT Objective: To understand the relation between family culture and hospital institutional culture. Method: Qualitative study, carried out in 2017, with relatives of children admitted to a Hospital in southern Brazil. The study included non-participant observation, to gain familiarity with the investigated cultural context; participant observation, to know the respondents’ experiences; and interviews. The data were coded and theoretical formulations and recommendations were made. Results: Fifteen family members participated. Hospitalization is a time of encounter and interaction between family culture and institutional culture. Conclusion: Hospital culture is presented as an instrument of family care and adaptation and flexibility of norms and routines to humanize cultural care.
Estefanía Bautista-Valarezo, Víctor Duque, Adriana Elizabeth Verdugo Sánchez
et al.
Abstract Backgrounds An intercultural society facilitates equitable and respectful interrelations. Knowing and understanding each other’s sociocultural and linguitic contexts is a prerequisite for an intercultural society. This study explores the concepts of health and illness among healers of indigenous ethnicities in Southern Ecuador. Methods A qualitative observational study with eleven focus groups was conducted in three locations in Southern Ecuador; a total of 110 participants the Shuar, Kichwa and Mestizo ethnic groups were included. A phenomenological and hermeneutic analysis was conducted. Results Fourteen main subtopics around of two predefined themes, i.e., “Health” and “Illness” were identified: 1) four bodies, 2) religiosity, 3) health as a good diet, 4) health as god’s blessing or a gift, 5) health as balance/ harmony, 6) health as community and social welfare, 7) health as potentiality or a skill, 8) health as peacefulness, 9) heath as individual will, 10) illness as an imbalance, 11) illness as bad energy, 12) illness as a bad diet, 13) illness as suffering or worry, and 14) illness from God, Nature and People illness. By analysing all the topics’ and subtopics’ narratives, a health and illness definition was developed. The principal evidence for this new framework is the presence of interculturality as a horizontal axis in health. The indigenous perspective of health and illness focus on a balance between 4 bodies: the physical, spiritual, social and mental bodies. Additionally, “good health” is obtained through of the good diet and balanced/harmony. Conclusion Indigenous healers in Southern Ecuador have views on health and illness that differ from the Western biomedical model of care. These different views must be recognized and valued in order to build an intercultural (health) system that empowers both ancestral and modern medical knowledge and healing.
As in many cultures, also in Uganda spirit possession is a common idiom of distress associated with traumatic experiences. In the DSM-IV and -5, possession trance disorders can be classified as dissociative disorders. Dissociation in Western countries is associated with complicated, time-consuming and costly therapies. Patients with spirit possession in SW Uganda, however, often report partial or full recovery after treatment by traditional healers.The aim of this study is to explore how the development of symptoms concomitant help-seeking steps, and explanatory models (EM) eventually contributed to healing of patients with spirit possession in SW Uganda. Illness narratives of 119 patients with spirit possession referred by traditional healers were analysed using a mixed-method approach.Treatments of two-thirds of the patients were unsuccessful when first seeking help in the medical sector. Their initially physical symptoms subsequently developed into dissociative possession symptoms. After an average of two help-seeking steps, patients reached a healing place where 99% of them found satisfactory EM and effective healing. During healing sessions, possessing agents were summoned to identify themselves and underlying problems were addressed. Often-mentioned explanations were the following: neglect of rituals and of responsibilities towards relatives and inheritance, the call to become a healer, witchcraft, grief, and land conflicts.The results demonstrate that traditional healing processes of spirit possession can play a role in restoring connections with the supra-, inter-, intra-, and extra-human worlds. It does not always seem necessary to address individual traumatic experiences per se which is in line with other research in this field. The study leads to additional perspectives on treatment of trauma-related dissociation in Western countries and on developing effective mental health services in low -and middle-income countries.
Talita Cassanta Costa, Miriam Lopes, Anna Cláudia Yokoyama dos Anjos
et al.
OBJECTIVE: To identify scientific studies and to deepen the knowledge of peripheral neuropathies induced by chemotherapy antineoplastic, seeking evidence for assistance to cancer patients. METHOD: Integrative review of the literature conducted in the databases Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences (LILACS), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Medical Literature Analysis (PubMed/MEDLINE), the Cochrane Library and the Spanish Bibliographic Index Health Sciences (IBECS). RESULTS: The sample consisted of 15 studies published between 2005-2014 that met the inclusion criteria. Studies showed aspects related to advanced age, main symptoms of neuropathy and chemotherapy agents as important adverse effect of neuropathy. CONCLUSION: We identified a small number of studies that addressed the topic, as well as low production of evidence related to interventions with positive results. It is considered important to develop new studies proposed for the prevention and/or treatment, enabling adjustment of the patient's cancer chemotherapy and consequently better service.
Ana Célia Caetano de Souza, Thereza Maria Magalhães Moreira, José Wicto Pereira Borges
Objective Investigating the educational technologies developed for promoting cardiovascular health in adults. Method Integrative review carried out in the databases of PubMed, SciELO and LILACS, with 15 articles selected. Results Over half (60%) of the studies were randomized clinical trials. The developed educational technologies were programs involving three strategies, with duration of one year, use of playful technologies with storytelling, computer programs or software for smartphones, and electronic brochure. These technologies resulted in reduction of blood pressure, weight, waist circumference, decreased hospitalizations and increased years of life. Conclusion The studies with better impact on the cardiovascular health of adults were those who brought the technology in the form of program and duration of one year.
The healing power of nature, vis medicatrix naturae, has traditionally been defined as an internal healing response designed to restore health. Almost a century ago, famed biologist Sir John Arthur Thomson provided an additional interpretation of the word nature within the context of vis medicatrix, defining it instead as the natural, non-built external environment. He maintained that the healing power of nature is also that associated with mindful contact with the animate and inanimate natural portions of the outdoor environment. A century on, excessive screen-based media consumption, so-called screen time, may be a driving force in masking awareness of the potential benefits of nature. With global environmental concerns, rapid urban expansion, and mental health disorders at crisis levels, diminished nature contact may not be without consequence to the health of the individual and the planet itself. In the context of emerging research, we will re-examine Sir J. Arthur Thomson's contention that the healing power of the nature-based environment - green space, forests and parks in particular - extends into the realm of mental health and vitality.