The spread of the COVID-19 virus created more than a medical crisis, while it also negatively affected the mental health of the general population. This context increased the vulnerability of the ...psychiatric population. While research interest highly targeted vaccine hesitancy and acceptance, many studies focused on trust issues-both in vaccine efficacy and in communication with authorities. Less is known about the psychological underpinnings of the COVID vaccination decision, specifically in the high-uncertainty circumstances due to the novelty of the virus. In a cross-sectional study, we investigated the predictive value of several cognitive (perceived risk, vulnerability, uncertainty, and trust in one's decision) and behavioral (previous vaccinations, social media use, and practicing preventive behavior) factors, for the vaccination decision against COVID-19, for 252 psychiatric inpatients (data collected between September 2021 and February 2022). Demographics and diagnostics were also considered. We found a significant relationship between the "Perceived risk of vaccination" and the choice of vaccination (
(2, N = 252) = 58.59,
≤ 0.001), and between the "Trust in own decision to vaccinate" and the decision to vaccinate (
(2, N = 252) = 31,5,
≤ 0.001). The overall regression model was statistically significant (
(9, N = 252) = 97.1,
< 0.001), with between 30% and 45% of the variance in the odds of a positive decision explained by the predictor set. The model coefficients analysis showed that an individual with a psychiatric disorder but with higher confidence in their decision had significant (
< 0.001) increased odds of the decision to vaccinate against COVID-19 by 893%. A former voluntary vaccination did not significantly associate with the decision to vaccinate against COVID-19 (
(1, N = 252) = 2.74,
> 0.05) in this special population. No other behavioral factors, diagnosis, or demographics were significant as predictors, for the clinical psychiatric population surveyed, except the educational level. Implications for future vaccination acceptance of this special population are discussed.
The search for biomarkers has been central to efforts of improving clinical diagnosis and prognosis in psychopathology in the last decades. The main approach has been to validate biomarkers that ...could accurately discriminate between clinical diagnoses of very prevalent forms of psychopathology. One of the most popular electrophysiological markers proposed for discrimination in depressive disorders is the electroencephalography (EEG)-derived frontal alpha asymmetry. However, the validity, reliability and predictive value of this biomarker have been questioned in recent years, mainly due to conceptual and methodological heterogeneity.
In the current non-experimental, correlational study we investigated relationship of resting-state EEG alpha asymmetry from multiple sites (frontal, frontolateral, and parietal) with different forms of depressive disorders (varying in type or severity), in a clinical sample.
Results showed that alpha asymmetry in the parietal (P3-P4) was significantly higher than in the frontal (F3-F4) and frontolateral sites (F7-F8). However, we did not find significant relations between alpha asymmetry indices and our depressive disorder measures, except for a moderate positive association between frontolateral alpha asymmetry (eyes-closed only) and depressive disorder severity (determined through clinical structured interview). We also found no significant differences in alpha asymmetry between participants, depending on their depression type.
Based on results, we propose the parietal and frontolateral asymmetry indices to form hypotheses that should not be abandoned in the depression markers research, but worth for further experimental research. Methodological and clinical implications of the current findings are discussed.
This paper discusses how psychodrama methods and techniques can empower abused women and stimulate changes in their victim role. Through an in-depth exploration, we sought to gain an insider's ...perspective of the experiences of change and perceived outcomes for abused women, which could contribute to optimizing gender violence intervention. Theoretically, the study is grounded in the female co-responsibility and
-generational transmission of women's victim role from mother to daughter. A mixed methods experimental design employing an explanatory sequential approach to data collection was implemented. A total sample of 33 abused women (15 in the experimental group, and 18 in the control group) was involved in studying the impact of a psychodrama intervention combined with an ecological intervention. Spontaneity and wellbeing, considered in this study as dimensions of empowerment, were measured. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with 7 women 3 months after the psychodrama intervention ended, and with 6 women 5 years later. Data was analyzed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis method. The matrix of themes that emerged reflects four overarching themes: the victim, the group experience, the process of change, and the corollary of change. Benefits perceived by the women include trust, hope, increased self-esteem, empowering, and courage to make decisions and changes. Findings describe three paths of change for women who participated in an empowering-oriented psychodrama intervention program: the Proactive - Resilient type, the Active - Resistant type, and the Repetitive - Non-Resilient type. Role-reconstruction and the interruption of trans-generational victim pattern were clear for the proactive type and possible for the active type, while the repetitive type showed minor changes but remained stuck in the victim pattern. As no claims to generalizability can be made, further research is needed to verify the proposed typology on larger samples. Psychodrama, as an action method, can empower abused women and has the potential to stimulate action in women's lives and initiate adaptive coping strategies leading to resilience. The study ends with several suggestions for assisted resilience specialists.
In Italy, the problem of asbestos pollution is increasing in severity. In fact, in recent years, the number of people affected by asbestos-related illnesses has been growing because of the fibre's ...slowly evolving effects and its progressive pollution in the environment adjacent to the places where it is processed. Even though the physical consequences of asbestos are now quite clear, few studies have examined the psychological consequences of this kind of disaster. Since it is difficult to perceive its pathogenicity in daily life, this study was conducted in the affected areas of north-eastern Italy, using the qualitative research in psychology with 51 persons who experienced asbestos-related illnesses (19 sick persons and 37 relatives of sick persons). Their narratives described being rooted in a space contaminated by an invisible enemy. In particular, attention was paid to the consequent solastalgia, a kind of mourning arising from loss of place attachment. Results of the qualitative analysis revealed how the different phases of the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross DABDA (Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance) model of coping with death constitute such feelings, whereas the dual-process model of Stroebe and Schut emphasised how these people seem to be loss oriented because of their perceived lack of community restoration. A discussion of the relationships between attribution of responsibility, entirely external and mostly inscribed in the DABDA categories of ‛anger’ and ‛acceptance’, is presented, with further considerations about mourning and the need to improve specific psychological support in this field of environmental disaster.
Psychology; Place attachment loss; Elisabeth Kubler-Ross model; Solastalgia; Disaster; Attribution processes; Mourning; Asbestos pollution
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The COVID-19 pandemic brought a burden and represented a challenge for the Romanian medical system. This study explored the consequences that COVID epidemiological measures had on the quality of the ...mental health care provided to hospitalized patients in a regional psychiatric hospital in Romania.
Both patient-level and hospital-level indicators were considered for this comparative retrospective study. On the one hand, we extracted patient-level indicators, such as sociodemographics, diagnosis, admission, and discharge dates for 7026 hospitalized patients (3701 women, average age = 55.14) from hospital records. On the other hand, for the hospital-level indicators, we included indicators referring to the aggregated concept of mental health services, such as case mix index, length of stay, bed occupancy rate and patients' degree of satisfaction. Data extracted covered a period of two years (1 March 2019-28 February 2021) before and during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We found that, compared to the pre-pandemic period, the pandemic period was marked by a drastic decrease in hospitalized patient admissions, coupled with an increase in emergency-based admissions. Other management indicators, such as the case mix index, the number of cases contracted/performed, and the degree of patient satisfaction, decreased. In contrast, the average length of stay and bed occupancy rate increased.
The COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the first year, raised multiple difficult issues for the management of psychiatric hospitals. It imposed an application of strict measures designed to face these new and unprecedented challenges. Our findings offer a detailed snapshot of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of its impact on mental health services and suggest some future directions. Implications for hospital management are discussed.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the related lockdown measures have had intense negative impacts on the psychological well-being of both adults and children. Among such impacts is ...a significant increase in mortality salience and changes in how people deal with grief and losses. This qualitative research used semi-structured interviews with 23 Italian parents to draw insights on the impact of the pandemic on children aged 5˗15 years with regard to their representation of death and the eventual role that family spirituality/ religiosity played in helping them understand both the concept of dying and possibly the pandemic itself. From the data analysis, four main thematic areas emerged: “Lockdown experience,” “Fears and worries related to COVID-19,” “Emergence of thoughts on the process of dying,” and “Representation of death and the impact of religious beliefs.” The participants highlighted how stressful the lockdown measures have been for their children and the anxiety that their children have experienced because of fears related to the pandemic. The interviews also surfaced how living in a religious family has contributed significantly to shaping children’s representation and understanding of death and sometimes even helped both the parents and their children to face difficult moments such as those caused by the pandemic.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
As part of a European Erasmus Plus project entitled Death Education for Palliative Psychology, this study assessed the ways in which Master's Degree students in psychology and the creative arts ...therapies self-rated their confidence and interest in death education and palliative and bereavement care. In five countries (Austria, Israel, Italy, Poland, Romania), 344 students completed an online questionnaire, and 37 students were interviewed to better understand their views, interest, and confidence. The results revealed some significant differences between countries, and showed that older respondents with previous experience as formal caregivers for end-of-life clients showed greater interest in obtaining practical clinical competence in these fields. A mediation analysis indicated that students' previous care experiences and past loss experiences were related to students' current interest in death education and palliative and bereavement care through the mediation of their sense of confidence in this field. The qualitative findings identified five shared themes: life and death, learning about death, the psychological burden, personal experience and robust training, and four key training needs. Overall, students' interest in studying and working with terminal illness and death are rooted in internal resources, a preliminary sense of confidence, but also external requirements.
The need to spread the culture of palliative care and to train health care professionals from undergraduate courses is recognised internationally. The article presents the outcomes of a project ...devoted to palliative care training in university courses in four countries.
This article considered the outcomes of a course designed for university students who had the potential to work in a palliative care team. The main aim was to check the efficacy of the course and the motivation to work in palliative care settings, considering the impact of fear and representations of death.
The project presented the essential contents related to palliative care, using psychodramatic and photo-voice techniques. Longitudinal measurements were taken using a quantitative method design to detect changes among the students involved. The project involved 341 students at the first administration of the survey consisted of a protocol composed of standardized questionnaires in five countries (Austria, Israel, Italy, Poland and Romania), of whom 276 completed the pre- and post-surveys-165 of them in the experimental group and 111, in the control group.
The experience showed that it is possible to address death-related issues seriously and competently without necessarily causing discomfort and despondency in students. The results of the changes over time in the experimental and control groups highlight how the view of death as annihilation is correlated with the fear of death and the need for avoidance of thoughts concerning dying. The main result is that competence in palliative care facilitates familiarisation with issues of death and dying, as well as the ability to work in this area, thereby enhancing interpersonal skills.
The project showed that it is possible to implement death education on palliative care topics in undergraduate courses to increase motivation to work in this field.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Research in the field of psychodrama is rich with descriptions of experiences and case illustrations; however viewed through the lens of research many prove to be methodologically weak. This paper ...aims to introduce and propose Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a valuable instrument for psychodrama research. For the purposes of this paper, the method will be described as three broad elements: the epistemological position; some guidelines for conducting research and an example of using IPA in psychodrama research. Studies using IPA bring an in-depth understanding and sense-making of the experiences of participants in various psychodrama groups, they reveal the therapeutic change process and the personal meaning of therapeutic outcomes.
The paper concludes with a discussion on the potential for IPA to contribute to the field of psychodrama research, directions for its use and its limitations. Whilst acknowledging that psychodrama research primarily needs experimentally conducted designs to achieve the mainstream standards of the scientific community, there is a need to increase the rigor of qualitative studies. Therefore this article is meant to act as a catalyst for more studies using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the robustness of which will be useful for psychodrama research.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The purpose of this article is to highlight students’ perception of the Faculty of Engineering concerning discrimination, particularly discrimination against certain vulnerable groups. This issue is ...part of a broader research that aims to assess the attitude of students towards discrimination.
The method used in the study is questionnaire-based survey. The questionnaire includes scales and subscales for measuring the attitudes of subjects, their emotions, cognitions and behaviors in relation to discrimination in general, and specifically in relation to certain vulnerable groups such as the Roma population, people with HIV/AIDS, people with a different sexual orientation or people with disabilities and mental illness.
The main results of our research have demonstrated that the students from engineering believe that there is discrimination within society, including at the level of educational institutions; the most discriminated category is Roma population.
These results reflect the importance of training engineering students in the field of ethics and non-discrimination. We conclude that there is a need of such courses in the context of promoting inclusive societies and of the rebirth of business ethics education at an international level.
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