•Simultaneous combination of personality dimensions predicts the risk of Suicidal-related behavior (SRB).•The predictive capacity of this combination is higher than the uncombined dimensions.•The ...simultaneous combination of personality dimensions makes it possible to detect profiles with the greatest risk of SRB.
Suicide is one of the main causes of death among teenagers (World Health Organization; WHO, 2019). Suicidal-related behaviour (SRB) (suicidal ideation and suicidal intent/self-harm behavior) is one of the main risk factors for suicide. Hence the importance of detecting predictive variables of SRB. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the association and explanatory power that combined dimensions of personality in comparison with uncombined dimensions in relation to SRB. Participants were 1027 teenagers (girls 62.2%) aged between 13 and 18 (mean age = 15.59; SD = 1.29). Personality dimensions were assessed with the Big Five Inventory and the SRB with the Youth Self Report. Neuroticism combined with the remaining personality dimensions, is associated with better predictions of SRB than the uncombined dimensions. The relative risk (RR) of SRB combining personality dimensions were high (RR = 10 in some of these combinations) and the explanatory power of some of them reaches 23%.
The role of the Openness dimension in relation to SRB is discussed, a role that until now has had little consensus in the scientific literature. In conclusion, taking into account several personality dimensions simultaneously is a useful approach to identify adolescents with a higher risk of reporting behaviour associated with suicidality. Likewise, these results will assist in the development of preventive and intervention policies.
University students experience stress, and how they cope with this stress affects their academic achievement. This study examined stress in teacher education students and had three objectives: to ...describe different degrees of stress and coping styles; to study the relationship between stress, coping strategies and academic achievement; and to examine whether increased age can moderate the effects of stress on academic achievement in 334 university-students. There were three main findings: many students experienced stress and used avoidance coping strategies; the students who were under less stress and engaged less in cognitive avoidance and more in problem-focused coping were also the students who made more academic achievement; and students under more stress performed worse, but with age stress affected performance less. In teacher education students, it is important to recognize and address the harmful effects of stress on well-being and academic achievement, to avoid long-term problems in professional and personal life.
The coping strategies used by students play a key role in their psychological well-being. This study examines the relationship between coping strategies and psychological well-being in a sample of 98 ...undergraduates aged between 19 and 42 years. Coping strategies were evaluated by means of the CRI-A (Moos, 1993), while psychological well-being was assessed using the BSI (Derogatis and Spencer, 1982). The results show a relationship between coping style and psychological well-being. Approach coping strategies as problem solving in teacher education students had a beneficial effect on symptoms of depression, phobic anxiety and overall level of psychological distress. In contrast, cognitive avoidance coping are associated with greater presence of psychological symptoms indicating distress. And behavioural avoidance strategies (search for alternative rewards and emotional discharge) were associated with negative psychological well-being. Coping strategies may help to reduce psychological distress in university students. Specifically, approach-oriented coping is associated with positive scores for psychological well-being, and avoidant emotion-focused coping--above all, behavioural avoidant coping--may be a strong predictor of psychological distress.
Factor-analysis based dimensional assessment of psychometric measures is a key step in the development of tests. However, current practices for deciding between a multiple-correlated or essentially ...unidimensional solution are clearly improvable.
A series of recent studies are reviewed, and an approach is proposed that combines multiple sources of information, which is expected to be used to make an informed judgement about the most appropriate dimensionality for the measure being studied. It uses both internal and external sources of information, and focuses on the properties of the scores derived from each of the solutions compared.
The proposal is applied to a re-analysis of a measure of symptoms of psychological distress. The results show that a clear and informed judgement about the most appropriate dimensionality of the measure in the target population can be obtained.
The proposal is useful and can be put into practice by using user-friendly, non-commercial software. We hope that this availability will result in good practice in the future.
The coping strategies used by students play a key role in their psychological well-being. This study examines the relationship between coping strategies and psychological well-being in a sample of 98 ...undergraduates aged between 19 and 42 years. Coping strategies were evaluated by means of the CRI-A (Moos, 1993), while psychological well-being was assessed using the BSI (Derogatis and Spencer, 1982). The results show a relationship between coping style and psychological well-being. Approach coping strategies as problem solving in teacher education students had a beneficial effect on symptoms of depression, phobic anxiety and overall level of psychological distress. In contrast, cognitive avoidance coping are associated with greater presence of psychological symptoms indicating distress. And behavioural avoidance strategies (search for alternative rewards and emotional discharge) were associated with negative psychological well-being. Coping strategies may help to reduce psychological distress in university students. Specifically, approach-oriented coping is associated with positive scores for psychological well-being, and avoidant emotion-focused coping—above all, behavioural avoidant coping—may be a strong predictor of psychological distress.
The objectives of this study are: (1) to describe virtues, character strengths and coping strategies of college students; (2) to analyze the relationship between virtues, character strengths and ...coping strategies; and (3) to evaluate the predictive relationship between virtues and coping strategies. Ninety-one college students (98 % females), aged between 19 and 42 years (M = 23.5; SD = 4.0), completed questionnaires VIA Inventory of Strengths, and Coping Responses Inventory-Adult. Strong positive correlations were found between the six virtues and three coping strategies. Specifically, Wisdom presented a positive correlation with behavioral and cognitive approach coping. Sixteen strengths presented positive correlations with behavioral approach coping strategies and four strengths presented positive correlations with cognitive approach coping. Wisdom described 23 % of the variance in cognitive-approach coping, and Transcendence together with Temperance described 33.5 % of the variance in behavioral approach coping. We conclude that the college setting offers a rich opportunity for further studies of these relationships.
Objective
Cancer patients are at increased risk for psychological difficulties and COVID-19. We sought to analyze anxiety and depression levels during the COVID-19 pandemic and the association ...between sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological factors in patients with advanced cancer.
Methods
A prospective, multicenter cohort of 401 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed, advanced cancer completed the Brief Symptom Inventory, Michel Uncertainty in Illness Scale, Herth Hope Index, and Cancer Worry Scale between February 2020 and May 2021. Linear regression analyses explored the effects of uncertainty, hopelessness, and cancer worry on anxiety and depression, adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical variables.
Results
The incidence of anxiety and depression was 36% and 35%, respectively. Emotional distress was greater among women, patients < 65 years of age, and those with an estimated survival of > 18 months. Linear regression analysis revealed that being female, preoccupation about cancer, and hopelessness were associated with increased levels of anxiety (
p
< 0.001) and depression (
p
< 0.001) and younger age was associated with a higher risk of anxiety. No differences in anxiety or depression levels were found in relation to marital status, children, educational level, cancer type, histology, stage, or type of treatment.
Conclusions
Patients with advanced cancer who initiated treatment during the pandemic experienced high levels of depression and anxiety. Early diagnosis and the development of intervention strategies are necessary, especially for specific patient subgroups, such as young women with long survival times.
Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases in women. Prevention and treatments have lowered mortality; nevertheless, the impact of the diagnosis and treatment continue to impact all aspects ...of patients' lives (physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and spiritual). This study seeks to explore the experiences of the different stages women with breast cancer go through by means of a patient journey. This is a qualitative study in which 21 women with breast cancer or survivors were interviewed. Participants were recruited at 9 large hospitals in Spain and intentional sampling methods were applied. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview that was elaborated with the help of medical oncologists, nurses, and psycho-oncologists. Data were processed by adopting a thematic analysis approach. The diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer entails a radical change in patients' day-to-day that linger in the mid-term. Seven stages have been defined that correspond to the different medical processes: diagnosis/unmasking stage, surgery/cleaning out, chemotherapy/loss of identity, radiotherapy/transition to normality, follow-up care/the "new" day-to-day, relapse/starting over, and metastatic/time-limited chronic breast cancer. The most relevant aspects of each are highlighted, as are the various cross-sectional aspects that manifest throughout the entire patient journey. Comprehending patients' experiences in depth facilitates the detection of situations of risk and helps to identify key moments when more precise information should be offered. Similarly, preparing the women for the process they must confront and for the sequelae of medical treatments would contribute to decreasing their uncertainty and concern, and to improving their quality-of-life.
Background/objective
The impact a cancer diagnosis and its treatment are affected by psychosocial factors and how these factors interrelate among themselves. The objective of this study was to ...analyze the relationship between optimism and social support in spiritual wellbeing in cancer patients initiating chemotherapy.
Methods
A cross-sectional, multi-center (15 sites), prospective study was conducted with 912 cancer patients who had undergone curative surgery for a stage I–III cancer and were to receive adjuvant chemotherapy. They completed the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness-Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-Sp), Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS).
Results
Significant differences on spirituality scales (meaning/peace and faith) were detected depending on age (≤ 65 vs > 65), sex, marital status, employment, and cancer treatment. Married or partnered participants had significantly higher meaning/peace scores compared to their non-partnered counterparts (
p
= 0.001). Women, > 65 years, unemployed, and patients treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy had significantly higher faith scores versus men, ≤ 65 years, employed, and subjects only receiving adjuvant chemotherapy (all
p
< 0.030). Multivariate analyses indicated that meaning/peace and faith correlated positively with optimism and social support.
Conclusion
During oncological treatment, the positive effects of optimism and social support exhibit a positive correlation with spiritual coping. A brief assessment evaluation of these factors can aid in identifying at risk for a worse adaptation to the disease.
Purpose
The aim of this study was to analyze the internal structure of the EORTC QLQ-C30, to examine the validity and normative data for cancer patients.
Method
Exploratory and Confirmatory factor ...analyses were conducted to explore the scale’s dimensionality and test for strong measurement invariance across sex and tumor site. All the analyses were based on a multicenter cohort of 931 patients who completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) and the EORTC QLQ-C30.
Results
Our findings indicate that the EORTC QLQ-C30 has acceptable psychometric properties and an internal structure that is well accounted for a bifactor model: a general factor that evaluates quality of life and a group factor that would analyze physical health that would be defined by physical function, role function, and fatigue. The result of the multi-group CFA revealed a strong invariance according to sex, tumor, and over time. Reliability of the EORTC exceeding 0.86 and the simple sum of the items of the scale was a good indicator of oncology patients’ quality of life. Both factors correlate closely with depression, anxiety, and psychological distress and are sensitive to change, especially the quality of life, with a significant decrease in the post-test.
Conclusion
The Spanish version of the EORTC QLQ-C30 proved to be a valid, reliable instrument to appraise quality of life in cancer patients. The normative data collected from this study may be useful for the early detection of initial symptoms of deterioration of quality of life in oncology patients.
PDF
