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Introduction
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October 2020 - October 2023
Publications
Publications (59)
Background
Kidney transplant involves profound psychological, relational, and social changes for both the patients and their family context. Occasionally, the family or social support can be deemed "dysfunctional" as it fails to fully comprehend the patient's needs and requirements. Attachment style, which pertains to the motivation to seek proximi...
Post-Traumatic Symptom Questionnaire (PTSQ) Procedura di Scoring
Objectives
Body dissatisfaction is a public health concern, prevalent among women. This study aims to investigate the efficacy of a 2‐week online functionality‐focused intervention combined with psychoeducation on improving body image among young women at both high and low risk of Body Image Disorders (BIDs).
Design
A randomized controlled trial w...
Post-Traumatic Symptom Questionnaire
Background: Adverse life occurrences (e.g., severe accidents, violence/abuse, organic disorders such as COVID-19) can elicit traumatic responses that heighten fear, anxiety, and depression. However, scientific research has shown that certain variables, such as self-esteem, based on theories like terror management theory (TMT) and the anxiety-buffer...
Adverse life events (e.g., severe accidents, violence/abuse, organic disorders) can elicit traumatic responses characterized by intrusive thoughts, hyperarousal, and avoidance—highlighting the need for sound assessment tools. Also, these traumatic components could heighten anxiety and depression symptoms. This study aims included to: (1) assessing...
Simple Summary
This study addresses the ongoing scientific debate regarding the existence, causes, characteristics and reversibility of cognitive sequelae associated with COVID-19 infection. The aim of the study is to describe the neuropsychological profile of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19, distinguishing between younger (<65 years) and older...
Versione italiana del Post-Traumatic Symptom Questionnaire (PTSQ)
Public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic can further strain the mental health of informal caregivers who provide unpaid assistance to family members or friends who need support due to illness, disability, or aging. However, there is a lack of research exploring the resources and adaptive strategies that promote resilience in informal...
Pea plants (Pisum sativum L.) can perceive the presence of potential supports in the environment and flexibly adapt their behavior to clasp them. How pea plants control and perfect this behavior during growth remains unexplored. Here, we attempt to fill this gap by studying the movement of the apex and the tendrils at different leaves using three-d...
Pea plants (Pisum sativum L.) can sense the presence of potential supports in the environment and flexibly adapt their behavior to clasp it. How pea plants control and perfect this behavior during growth remains unexplored. Here, we attempt to fill this gap by studying the movement of the apex and the tendrils at different leaves using three–dimens...
Food addiction (FA) and disordered eating behaviors related to obesity are gaining attention in clinical and research fields. The modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (mYFAS2.0) is the gold standard questionnaire to measure FA, while another tool is the Measure of Eating Compulsivity 10 (MEC10). Discriminant validity is present when two measures...
Commonly identified patterns of psychological distress in response to adverse events are characterized by resilience (i.e., little to no distress), delayed (i.e., distress that increases over time), recovery (i.e., distress followed by a gradual decrease over time), and sustained (i.e., distress remaining stable over time). This study aimed to exam...
Scoring procedure of the IT-DERS-SF
Items of the Italian DERS-SF
Le malattie cardiovascolari (MC) sono una delle principali cause di morte nel mondo. Per i pazienti dopo il ricovero a seguito dell’evento acuto, la riabilitazione cardiovascolare è fondamentale per rendere il più possibile autonomo il paziente. Al fine di migliorare l’efficacia degli interventi sanitari si sono sviluppati approcci innovativi come...
Uncertainty about illness (prognosis, treatments, future) could worsen the psychophysical health of patients and caregivers. A questionnaire to measure uncertainty about illness was lacking. This study aims to develop the Uncertainty in Illness Questionnaire (UIQ), examine its psychometric properties, factorial-structure, and discriminant validity....
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the psychological wellbeing of some people, there is evidence that many have been much less affected. The Ecological Model of Resilience (EMR) may explain why some individuals are not resilient whilst others are. In this study we test the EMR in a comparison of UK survey data collected from the COVID-19 P...
Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a vulnerability factor for several psychological disorders and may be an important target for transdiagnostic interventions (Shihata et al., 2016). The current pilot study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioural group intervention delivered to 7 university students. These stu...
Background: Literature showed that the link between right-wing attitudes and ethnocentric attitudes gets stronger under existential threats, but the role exerted by an impersonal threat – as COVID-19 – on right-wing attitudes is still unclear.
Aim: This study aimed to highlight the role of anxiety exerted by the impersonal COVID-19 threat on the r...
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40653-022-00503-z.].
The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) is an extensively used questionnaire to measure emotion regulation both in clinical and research practice but its length represents a limitation. This research aims to validate the Italian version of the DERS-SF (IT-DERS-SF) in a large sample from the general population. In Study 1 (N = 2222), exp...
Background
Adverse life events such as life-threatening accidents, domestic and/or sexual violence, organic diseases (i.e., cancer), or COVID-19 can have a strong traumatic impact – generating reactions as intrusive thoughts, hyperarousal, and avoidance. Indeed, the traumatic impact of COVID-19 seems to lead individuals to experience anxiety and de...
Commonly identified trajectories of psychological distress in response to adverse events, like the COVID-19 pandemic, include Resilience, Delayed distress, Recovery and Sustained distress. The current study aimed to analyse these four distinct response patterns during the pandemic using network analysis. Anxiety and depression symptom data collecte...
Introduzione: L'assessment psicologico non è più solo una raccolta di informazioni. Soprattutto nell'approccio cognitivo-comportamentale, l'assessment sta diventando sempre più individualizzato. In altri termini, non si basa più solo su un cutoff , ma si focalizza su una raccolta capillare di sintomi specifici per ogni paziente. Per raggiungere que...
Introduzione: Con il progressivo invecchiamento della popolazione, ci sono sempre più pazienti e sempre più caregiver informali (es., familiari) ad assisterli. La malattia comporta grandi difficoltà psico-fisiche sia per i pazienti che i caregiver, con costose conseguenze umane ed economiche sia a livello individuale che sociale. Per promuovere la...
Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is a vulnerability factor for several psychological disorders, and it may constitute an important target of transdiagnostic interventions. The present study aimed to preliminary evaluate the effectiveness of a transdiagnostic CBT group intervention delivered to 7 university students with difficulties tolerating uncer...
Informal caregivers (IC) are defined as the ‘hidden patients’ because of their burdensome and challenging role, affecting their psycho-physical health. However, too little attention is given to the ICs psychological issues. This study aimed to explore and understand the complex relationships patterns among psychological constructs in a sample of It...
Introduction: The Italian C19PRC study aimed at describing the psycho-social impact of the pandemic in Italy, giving insight into various aspects, including the psychological (e.g., depression, anxiety) and social (e.g., vaccine hesitancy, authoritarianism) perspectives, with a special focus on the psychosocial factors promoting or hindering Resili...
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the psychological wellbeing of some people, there is evidence that many have been much less affected. The Ecological Model of Resilience (EMR) may explain why some individuals are not resilient whilst others are. In this study we test the EMR in a comparison of UK survey data collected from the Covid-19 P...
In research and clinical contexts, it is important to briefly evaluate perceived Psychological and Social Support (PSS) to plan psychological interventions and allocate efforts and resources. However, an appropriate brief assessment tool for PSS was lacking. This study aimed at developing a brief and accurate scale to specifically measure PSS in cl...
Vaccine confidence has emerged as one of the most relevant psychological factors implied in the worldwide affecting the fight against COVID-19—as well as public trust in doctors, medicine, and science. Indeed, the vaccine confidence is crucial to maximize the trust in vaccines and their use for prevention, with several implications for public healt...
Background
The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) are self-report measures of major depressive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder. The primary aim of this study was to test for differential item functioning (DIF) on the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 items based on age, sex (males and females), and country....
This paper serves to alert IJPDS readers to the availability of a major new longitudinal survey data resource, the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study, which is being released for secondary use via the Open Science Framework. The C19PRC Study is a rich and detailed dataset that provides a convenient and valuable foundation fro...
This paper serves to alert IJPDS readers to the availability of a major new longitudinal survey data resource, the COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (C19PRC) Study, which is being released for secondary use via the Open Science Framework. The C19PRC Study is a rich and detailed dataset that provides a convenient and valuable foundation fro...
Introduction: The life-threatening Covid-19 (C19) has challenged people’s physical and mental health (e.g., anxiety, worry). C19 has potentially fatal outcomes and could intensify the specific Anxiety of Death (DA) that, in turn, could heighten the levels of pervasive Generalized Anxiety (GA) also in not-lifethreatening situations. The unprecedente...
Objective: The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) are self-report measures of major depressive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder. The primary aim of this study was to test for differential item functioning (DIF) on the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 items based on age, sex (males and females), and country.M...
Background
After the rehabilitation program, patients with Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) are discharged home, but the adaption to the daily life with the implant is challenging, both with practical and psychological consequences. Literature is lacking detailed information about the quality of life of LVAD patients and caregivers after disch...
Despite the severe psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, some individuals do not develop high levels of psychological distress and can be termed resilient. Using the ecological resilience model, we examined factors promoting or hindering resilience in the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 1034 participants (49.9±16.2 years; females 51.2%) from Ita...
Introduction: Healthcare workers facing the threatening COVID-19 can experience severe difficulties. Despite the need to evaluate both the psychological distress and positive protective resources, brief and reliable assessment tools are lacking.
Aim: Study 1 aimed at developing a new assessment tool to measure psychological distress and esteem in h...
Purpose
COVID-19 patients faced first-hand the life-threatening consequences of the disease, oftentimes involving prolonged hospitalization in isolation from family and friends. This study aimed at describing the psychological intervention to address the psychological difficulties and issues encountered by the hospitalized post-acute COVID-19 patie...
Background:
Despite cardiac rehabilitation for elder people already showed its usefulness, to date it is still not clear the impact of gender and of psychological constructs in influencing the rehabilitation outcomes.
Aim:
This study aimed at exploring the gender differences of great elders (over 75 years old) in cardiac rehabilitation, with par...
The COVID-19 pandemic represents a major stressor for the psychological health of people worldwide. In the UK, the COVID19-Psychological Research Consortium Study (C19PRC) launched to evaluate the psychological impact of COVID-19 in the general population and its implications. The project was then extended to Italy and several other countries. This...
Background: The Covid-19 pandemic represents a major stressor for the psychological health of people worldwide. In the UK, the Covid19-Psychological Research Consortium Study (C19PRC) launched to evaluate the psychological impact of Covid-19 in the general population and its implications. The project was then extended to Italy and several other cou...
Introduction
The coronavirus (COVID-19) disease has spread worldwide, generating intense fear of infection and death that may lead to enduring anxiety. At the same time, quarantine and physical isolation can intensify feelings of dispositional loneliness that, by focusing on thoughts of disconnection from others, can trigger intense anxiety. Anxiet...
Patients with COVID-19 experienced severe physical conditions as well as psychological difficulties. Moreover, the COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted rehabilitation programs for patients isolating them from their family and friends - that were not allowed to access hospital facilities to visit their beloved ones. Patients underwent a psychological int...
Background:
Elderlies in cardiac rehabilitation show a particular frailty due to specific aging issues, thus specific professional psychophysical care is required.
Aim:
This study aimed at evaluating the effect of a cardiac rehabilitation program enhanced with psychological support on the psychophysical health of ≥75elderlies. Moreover, the asso...
Implantable left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are increasingly used for patients with heart failure. Despite this evidence, the psychological processes affecting implanted patients and their caregivers are only marginally studied. While common emotional reactions, such as anxiety and depression already received attention, very little is known...
Background: The increasing number of stroke patients (SPs) requires informal caregivers to bear a high burden of responsibilities and heavy (di)stress. Moreover, these issues could lead to the development of serious psychological problems (e.g., depressive and/or anxious) that in turn could give rise to poor health-related quality of life outcomes....
Background
Coping with chronic illness can be overwhelming for patients and caregivers, and may be inhibited by the denial mechanism, and therefore, denial represents a critical issue for health professionals. Assessing illness denial is far from easy, and brief tools suitable for medical settings are lacking. In this paper, the development of a sh...
Background and objectives: Previous research has provided insufficient evidence on the factorial validity of the negative cognitive style questionnaires, which is a problem for the validity of the total score’s computation. In Study 1, we focused on the relationship between internality and the other dimensions of negative cognitive style. In Study...
Introduction:
For a long time, researchers wondered why some individuals are more prone to develop depression. Similarly, in clinical practice it is relevant to identify depression’s predicting factors in order to prevent its full onset. Also, detailed information on the client’s cognitive beliefs is crucial for the treatment. This study aims at d...
Introduction: Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is characterized by overt and covert
symptoms. The co-occurrence of opposite aspects, such as grandiosity and vulnerability, often implies high personal and social burdens. Consequently, the assessment of NPD has a key role to plan the most suitable treatment. The available assessment tools, des...
