1,720,969 research outputs found
Acute stress reactions and associated factors in the help-seekers after the L'Aquila earthquake.
No full text"Background: The assessment of acute stress reactions and psychiatric. symptomatology shortly after the occurrence of a traumatic catastrophic event,. like an earthquake, is essential for implementing relief activities and for the. identification of the long-term aftermath. The aim of our study was to assess the. psychological distress and the occurrence of acute stress disorder (ASD) among. individuals seeking help at the General Hospital Psychiatric Unit at San. Salvatore Hospital following the earthquake at L'Aquila. Factors. (sociodemographic, coping strategies, event-related and postevent variables). associated with the acute stress reactions were also assessed. Methods: For the. first 4 weeks following the earthquake, 122 help-seekers were assessed with a. checklist of traumatic-event-related variables. Measurement instruments included . the Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire (SASRQ) for the detection of ASD. according to DSM-IV criteria, the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). for assessing psychological distress, and the Brief Cope questionnaire for. assessing coping strategies. Results: Despite the high level of psychological. distress (GHQ-12 ‚â•20, cut-off value) found in 65.6% of the subjects, only 6. subjects (4.9%) could be considered affected by 'full' ASD, whereas 48 subjects. (39.3%) could be considered affected by 'partial' ASD, which is defined as. showing at least one symptom on each DSM-IV criterion as evidenced by scoring. higher than 3 on each SASRQ scale. The strongest predictor of traumatic stress. reactions among all the predictor variables included in our study was having been. trapped/injured under rubble during the earthquake, and among earthquake. stressors (explaining 20% of variance in our model), a weaker predictor was the. loss of personal privacy because of home displacement. In our model, more. variance (39%) was explained when individual psychopathological variables and. coping styles were also included as predictors. Showing coping strategies as. exhibiting 'behavioural disengagement' or 'requesting emotional support from. others' were found to increase the likelihood of a positive estimate of being an . 'ASD case', while the adoption of an 'acceptance' coping style seemed to reduce. the likelihood of the positive estimate of being an 'ASD case'. Conclusions: This. study underlines the importance of identifying ASD subsyndromal cases and taking . appropriate intervention/prevention measures that focus on giving psychological. support to individuals trapped/injured under rubble, showing a low acceptance of . reality. A relevant underestimated source of distress was the dislocation in. large accommodation settings (such as large tent camps) in which individuals lack. privacy.
[Psychological distress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in young survivors of L'Aquila earthquake]
No full textPsicosi giovanili: fattori di rischio, precursori, prodromi e caratteristiche psicopatologiche
No full textCognitive function and clinical symptoms in first-episode psychosis and chronic schizophrenia before and after the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake
No full textAim: On 6 April 2009, at 3:32 GMT, central Italy was struck by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake with its epicentre near L'Aquila, the capital city of the Abruzzo region. Earthquakes may precipitate psychiatric symptoms. The aim of this study was to investigate cognitive functioning and positive and negative symptoms before and after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake in patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and chronic schizophrenia (CS).
Methods: A total of 54 FEP patients (34 males and 20 females) and 63 CS patients (39 males and 24 females) were investigated. Psychometric scores were submitted to a 2 × 2 mixed analysis of variance, with group (FEP and CS) as the between-subjects variable and time (pre- and post-earthquake) as the within-subjects variable.
Results: Positive symptoms increased significantly from the pre- to the post-earthquake assessment in FEP patients but not in those with CS. There were no significant differences between the pre- and post-earthquake period in terms of negative symptoms in both groups. Compared with the pre-earthquake assessment, FEP patients scored significantly worse at the post-earthquake evaluation in terms of Wisconsin Card Sorting Test categories achieved, immediate verbal memory and delayed verbal memory. However, there were no significant differences in cognitive scores between the pre- and post-earthquake periods in patients with CS.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that a disastrous earthquake has a negative impact on cognitive functioning and positive symptoms in FEP patients, but not in those with CS
Persistent fear of aftershocks, impairment of working memory, and acute stress disorder predict post-traumatic stress disorder: 6-month follow-up of help seekers following the L'Aquila earthquake.
No full text"The aim of our 6-month follow-up study was to assess predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among individuals seeking treatment at the General Hospital Psychiatric Unit within the first month following the L'Aquila earthquake. Clinical, trauma-related and neurocognitive variables were considered. At the 6-month follow-up, 91 (74.5%) out of 122 subjects were re-assessed and administered the Impact of Events Scale-revised (IES-R) for the detection of PTSD according to DSM-IV criteria. Within 4 weeks following the earthquake, patients were assessed with a checklist of traumatic-event-related variables, along with the Stanford Acute Stress Disorder Questionnaire (SASDQ) for the detection of ASD, with a short battery on working (Wechler Memory Scale-R, Digit Forward and Backward) and verbal memory (subtest of Milan Overall Dementia Assessment, MODA). A statistically significant higher proportion of subjects affected by 'partial' ASD showed a PTSD diagnosis (80.6%, N = 29) compared to not diagnosed subjects (40%, N = 22) and a PTSD diagnosis was shown by all the 4 subjects (4.4%) affected by 'full' ASD at the entry in the study. At the 6-month follow-up 56% of the sample could be considered affected by PTSD on the IES-R scale. The results of the logistic regression analysis on our selected predictors indicated that the persistent fear of aftershocks seemed to increase by over 57 times the likelihood of positive estimate of PTSD, followed by impairment of working memory backward (OR 48.2), and having being diagnosed as ASD case in the first 4 week after the earthquake (OR 17.4). This study underlines the importance of identifying PTSD predictors, in order to planning early treatment interventions after natural disasters.
Burnout e Distress psicologico tra gli operatori della salute: prevalenza, fattori di rischio e differenze di genere.
No full textBackground. Il medico e in generale le figure sanitarie, rappresentano le professioni a maggior
rischio di sviluppare una Sindrome del Burnout, con elevate conseguenze psichiatriche a lungo
termine (1). Scopo dello studio è stato la valutazione della prevalenza del burnout, fattori di rischio
e differenze di genere nell’ambito di una comunità di operatori sanitari dell’Ospedale Regionale
San Salvatore dell’Aquila, Italia.
Metodi. Sono stati selezionati, in modo randomizzato, due reparti rappresentativi per ognuno dei
4 livelli di complessità assistenziale come da decreto n. 49/2012. 89 professionisti della salute
(medici, infermieri e oss) randomizzati hanno accettato di partecipare allo studio. L’assessment
era costituito da un Questionario ad hoc per la raccolta dei dati socio-demografici, lavorativi e
rispetto all’esposizione al sisma del 6 Aprile 2009, il Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) (3) per la
valutazione del burnout e il General Health Questionnaire-12 items (GHQ-12) (4), per la
valutazione del livello di distress percepito.
Risultati. Un’elevata percentuale degli intervistati ha riportato punteggi critici all’ MBI: il 32,4%
nell’esaurimento emotivo (EE), il 22% nella Depersonalizzazione (DA) e il 18% nella Realizzazione
Personale (RP). Elevato anche il livello di distress percepito (il 23%). Differenze statisticamente
significative rispetto al genere sessuale sono state riscontrate nel funzionamento sociale (p<0,04)
e lo stato civile (p<0,006). E’ emerso inoltre, che i fattori di rischio per lo sviluppo del burnout
sono: una durata lavorativa maggiore di 10 anni nel reparto (OR:2,92, IC)
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