Giulia Cossu

Università degli studi di Cagliari | UNICA · Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Cagliari

This paper tries to summarise the results of studies from different disciplines supporting the idea that temperamental traits, such as "reckless/hyper-exploratory” attitudes, commonly believed to be associated with psychopathology, surprisingly turn out as adaptive under specific stress conditions. In particular, this paper analyses an ethologic li...

Objective This paper illustrates the preliminary psychometric properties of the Questionnaire for Adaptive Hyperactivity and Goal Achievement (AHGA), aimed at measuring adaptive characteristics of hyperactivity and goal pursuit in older adults. Methods The 12-item scale was administered to a sample of 120 subjects (older adults) between February 2...

Objective The objective is to verify whether a genetic condition associated with bipolar disorder (BD) is frequent in old adults adapted to their environment, without BD, but with aptitudes for hyperactivity and novelty seeking (H/NS). Methods In this cross-sectional study, the study sample included healthy elderly people (40 participants, aged 60...

Under certain conditions, the hyperthymic temperament traits associated with an increased risk of developing bipolar disorders may in fact produce adaptive responses. The purpose of this study is to see if the type of biological material used for genetic analysis (saliva or blood) affects the detection of mutations in the CACNA1C (RS1006737) gene....

Background: Cognitive impairment is a frequent consequence of bipolar disorder (BD) that is difficult to prevent and treat. In addition, the quality of the preliminary evidence on the treatment of BD through Cognitive Remediation (CR) with traditional methods is poor. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of a CR intervention with fully imme...

Background Aging is characterized by a progressive increase in chronic diseases. According to WHO guidance, there is a need to develop strategies to monitor, maintain and rehabilitate the health of older people. The present research aims to elucidate whether or not a moderate physical activity intervention in older adults can cause an increase in i...

It’s hypothesized that factors associated with bipolar disorder could, under defined conditions, produce adaptive behaviors. The aim is to verify whether a genetic feature associated with bipolar disorder can be found in people without bipolar disorder but with hyperactivity/exploration traits. Healthy old adults (N=40) recruited for a previous stu...

The purpose is to verify in old adults if social and behavioral rhythms (SBRs) are correlated with a positive perception of the quality of life (QoL). Social and behavioral rhythms and related circadian biorhythms are known as central points in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorders. A secondary aim is to see if a similar relationship can be foun...

Mental health and human rights

implementar la CDPD de la ONU y Principios de Quality Rights La iniciativa Quality Rights Empoderamiento de las personas con discapacidades psicosociales a luchar por sus derechos

Introduction: Cognitive deficits are considered a fundamental component of bipolar disorder due to the fact that they negatively impact personal/social functioning. Cognitive remediation interventions are effective in the treatment of various psychosocial disorders, including bipolar disorder. The use of Virtual reality as a rehabilitation tool has...

Introduction: Involuntary hospitalisation denies autonomy and freedom of decision-making and is frequent in psychiatric clinical practice. However, there is still a lack of knowledge of long- term compliance after Involuntary commitment. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of published studies reporting people compliance after involuntary hos...

Introduction The purpose is to verify in old adults if social and behavioral rhythms (SBRs) are correlated with a positive perception of the quality of life (QoL). Social and behavioral rhythms and related circadian biorhythms are known as central points in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorders. A secondary aim is to see if a similar relationshi...

Background During the Covid-19 pandemic, delays in providing medical services, dissatisfaction, criticism toward health workers (HW) and the risk of burnout of HW in Italy have been documented. No studies have contrasted the point of view of HW and users on the quality of care and respect for human rights in health facilities. Objective To compare...

To verify if lethality and diffusivity of Covid-19 correlated with percentage of people vaccinated in different countries and whether results on these indicators were comparable under different types of vaccines. A linear regression analysis was conducted between vaccines/inhabitant, new cases/inhabitants and ratio deaths/cases. A comparison betwee...

Abstract: Physical exercise has been shown to improve dysmetabolism in older adults, reducing cardiovascular risk, while its role in preventing dysmetabolism is less known. Moreover, most of the trials use exercise programs that are difficult to put into daily practice. The purpose of this Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was to evaluate the effec...

Background The relationship between toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection and bipolar disorder (BD) is poorly understood. This review explores this relationship by estimating the strength of the association between the two conditions using data from published studies. Methods Following PRISMA guidelines, we performed a review and meta-analysis of...

Background This study aimed to evaluate the respect for users’ rights, job satisfaction, and well-being between mental health workers (MHWs) compared to non-mental health care workers (nMHWs) from the same Italian region. Methods The sample was recruited from community mental health and non-mental health outpatient centers in Sardinia. Participant...

Introduction The study of seasonal influences on the COVID-19 pandemic can take advantage of the unique position of Chile and its different climatic profiles in the north-south extension. The purpose is to verify the influence of seasonal climate changes on the COVID-19 in the temperate and sub-arctic areas of Chile. Methods We monitored the evolu...

Background Physical activity is associated with a higher quality of life (QoL) in older adults, but there is no evidence whether its effects on healthy individuals or individuals with a mild disability performing a medium-intensity exercise program can be assessed. Objective This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate whether moderate exerci...

This work is part of a research project that aims to measure organisational well-being, human rights respect and quality of care in mental health services in Sardinia, Italy, country that has replaced long-stay psychiatric hospitals with community mental health services. Previous contributions have seen Italian health professionals and users as the...

Summary: Research group, partners and aims: -Multidisciplinary «Active Aging Study Group» -General purposes and aims Exploration tracks: -RCT Randomized Control Trial (bio-psyco-social analysis) -Moderate exercise (cognitive function) -Impact of Chronic Pain -Exercise improves long-term SBR….(Resilience during lockdown) -Resilience against loneline...

Background: Functioning of Social Behavioral Rhythms (SBRs) may affect resilience toward stressful events across different age groups. However, the impact of SBRs on the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) in elder people is yet to ascertain, representing the aim of the present report. Design and methods: Follow-up of a peer-reviewed randomiz...

Among people with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarc-tion (STEMI), high alexithymia was associated with delay to hospital arrival. High alexithymia could be a determinant of early death in the long term after STEMI. People with STEMI who participated in a survey in 2011, was tested about the state of life in 2021. The sample was divided into tw...

Background: The aim was to outline a methodology to moni- tor the impact of vaccinations in different countries comparing in two different time within countries and between countries the fre- quency of new cases and Covid-19 related deaths and the percent- age of vaccinations conducted. Design and methods: The 25 countries with the largest increas...

Background Chronic Pain (CP) is a crucial determinant for disability in older adults. CP amplifies the impact of other common age-related diseases and increases cardiovascular risk. Physical exercise can improve CP. Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) with high-intensity exercise in older adults excluded people with Moderate Chronic Illness (MCI) a...

Background This study aimed to verify, through a randomized controlled trial, whether a medium-intensity mixing/aerobic/anaerobic exercise (accessible to older adults even with mild chronic diseases) can effectively counteract depressive episodes. A characteristic of the trial was that the follow-up coincided (unscheduled) with the lockdown due to...

The aim of this study was to compare users’ and mental health workers’ (MHW) perception of respect of human rights and job/care satisfaction in mental health services in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of users and MHW of Sardinia, Italy, fulfilled the “Well- Being at work and respect for human rights questionnaire” (WWRR). The study i...

Background Suffering from Solid Cancer (SC) may adversely impact the Health-related Quality of Life (H-QoL). The aims of this study are to measure the H-QoL in a sample of people suffering from SC and to clarify the role of the co-occurrence of depressive episodes. Results were compared with a healthy control group and with groups of other disorder...

Background Patients' satisfaction is an indicator of technical, instrumental, environmental, and interpersonal aspects of care. It shows how much the health service “as a whole organization” meets the patients’ psychosocial expectations and if the health professionals combine their technical competence with relational skills. The Treatment Percepti...

Background: Changes in social and behavioral rhythms (SBR) in elderly are related to health status. Nevertheless, there is no data on factor analysis of the Brief Social Rhythm Scale (BSRS) an internationally well-known tool in this field. The aim was to analyze, in elderly, the factorial structure of the Italian version of BSRS. Design and Methods...

Background Physical activity in the elderly is recommended by international guidelines to protect against cognitive decline and functional impairment. Objective This Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was set up to verify whether medium-intensity physical activity in elderly people living in the community is effective in improving cognitive perform...

The study aimed to verify whether exercise training in older adults can improve social behavioral rhythms (SBR) and if any modification is maintained over time. Older adults (n=120) from a previous randomized controlled trial, were randomly allocated to either a moderate-intensity exercise group or a control group. SBR was evaluated at t0, t26, and...

Intervista Valutazione dei Ritmi Biologici in Neuropsichiatria è la versione italiana della Brief Social Rhythms Scale (BSRS) (Margraf et al 2016) utilizzata e validata nell'ambito del progetto "Active Aging and Harhth" (

Background: The aim was to verify whether the density of particulate matter (PM10), the climate, and the mobility of people can influence the pandemic in the 19 regions and in the two autonomous Italian provinces as incidence rate and lethality. Design and Methods: The incidence rates per 100,000 inhabitants and the case fatality ratio (CFR) (depen...

Background Aging is marked by a progressive rise in chronic diseases with an impact on social and healthcare costs. Physical activity (PA) may soothe the inconveniences related to chronic diseases, has positive effects on the quality of life and biological rhythms, and can prevent the decline in motor functions and the consequent falls, which are a...

Background: the aim was to verify the association between Major Depressive Disorders (MDD) and the risk of premature death in people with oncological diseases, and to collect evidence about the causality of a possible association from a longitudinal perspective. Design and Methods: it is a cohort study lasting 9 months, involving people with solid...

The purpose is to verify in old adults if social and behavioral rhythms (SBRs) are correlated with a positive perception of the quality of life (QoL). Social and behavioral rhythms and related circadian biorhythms are known as central points in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorders. A secondary aim is to see if a similar relationship can be foun...

Social and behavioral rhythms (SBRs) are related to circadian rhythms well known as central points in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorders. The purpose is to verify in elderly people if having functional SBRs correlated with a positive perception of the quality of life (QoL) and health parameters and if there was an association between dysfunct...

Objective Current nosology redefined agoraphobia as an autonomous diagnosis distinct from panic disorder. We investigated the lifetime prevalence of agoraphobia, its association with other mental disorders, and its impact on the health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). Methods Community survey in 2,338 randomly selected adult subjects. Participants...

Background: Restrictions during Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, in which rhythms of life have been compromised, can influence the course of bipolar disorder (BD). This study follows patients with bipolar disorder living in two geographically close cities (Cagliari and Tunis), but with different lockdown conditions: less severe in Tunis. Methods: Two co...

The scientific community and humanitarian organizations have produced a considerable amount of research on the mental health status of migrants. However, few studies have looked at the mental health of migrant women. This chapter is aimed to study this phenomenon, beginning with an examination of risks related to sexual and gender-based violence in...

Background Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most reported diagnoses in psychiatry, but there is some discrepancy between the cases identified in community studies and those identified in tertiary care. This study set out to evaluate whether the use of clinicians as interviewers may provide estimates in a community survey close to th...

Abstract: The climate has an influence on the COVID-19 virus lethality. The aim of this study is to verify if the summer weather coincided with the decrease of the Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) in Europe and if, on the contrary, an inverse trend was observed in Australia and New Zealand. To verify our hypothesis, we considered the largest European coun...

Climate could influence the COVID-19 pandemic, but while no evidence has been advanced on the influence of colder climates, some studies have provided data to support a possible heat-related protective factor. The objective is to verify whether areas with a Cold Temperate Climate (TC) have a higher Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) for COVID-19 than areas...

The objective of our study is, therefore, to verify whether the trend of the pandemic regarding the lethality of the virus is similar in Argentina and Chile to that which emerged in the temperate countries of Europe and Oceania. The CFRs were derived from the John Hopkins University database. To check the trend of the Case Fatality Ratio and Argent...

Abstract: Climate could influence the COVID-19 pandemic, but while no evidence has been advanced on the influence of colder climates, some studies have provided data to support a possible heat-related protective factor. The objective is to verify whether areas with a Cold Temperate Climate (TC) have a higher Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) for COVID-19 t...

The climate has an influence on the COVID-19 virus lethality. The aim of this study is to verify if the summer weather coincided with the decrease of the Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) in Europe and if, on the contrary, an inverse trend was observed in Australia and New Zealand. To verify our hypothesis, we considered the largest European countries (Ger...

22% worldwide will be over 65 in 2050. The amount of Disability-adjusted life year will increase with impact on social and health costs. Physical activity in old age contrasts the metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and cognitive impairment, improves biological rhythms and lows the risk of falls. The interest in the therapeutic effects of physi...

Introduction The phenomenon of migration is characterized and influenced by a number of different variables; and the different stages of journey are related to different levels and types of psychological distress. Women, in particular, are exposed to further specific risks during migration. Aim To determine the factors that affect the psychologica...

Refugees from war zones and asylum seekers are exposed to a wide range of traumas, including persecution, humiliation, gender-based violence, human rights violations, and significant family losses. This results in a statistically higher risk of trauma-related mental disorders. However, refugees and asylum seekers are a heterogeneous population, as...

Background The physical activity has been indicated as an experience that can help achieve positive, self-oriented own body awareness. This awareness is an aspect that tends to get worse with age. Objective Our study aims to verify the internal consistency of a questionnaire on physical awareness in a sample of Italian elders; a secondary objectiv...

Since ColoRectal Cancer (CRC) remains the third cause of cancer death in the world, a better understanding of the reasons underlying poor adherence to and delay in undergoing CRC screening programs is important. CRC screening decision-making process can be conceptualized as the relationship between intention and behavior and needs to be investigate...

This chapter focuses on the mental health problems and risks that are associated with refugees and migrants. As a result, subsequent to a review of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature, the chapter highlights concepts, phenomena, and propositions that could serve as the basis for a theoretical framework of risk factors, mediation, and...

Physical activity helps to improve several clinical outcomes of people with severe psychosocial disabilities. The aims of this study were; 1) to assess the efficacy of a psychosocial rehabilitative intervention focused on sailing in a crew on: a) social functioning; b) severity of the psychosocial disability; c) general functioning; d) dysregulatio...

Introduction: Physical activity helps to improve several clinical outcomes of people with severe psychosocial disabilities. The aims of this study were; 1) to assess the efficacy of a psychosocial rehabilitative intervention focused on sailing in a crew on: a) social functioning; b) severity of the psychosocial disability; c) general functioning; d...

Coeliac Disease (CD) is an autoimmune disease in which an environmental factor, gluten, triggers a pathological reaction. It results in intra- and entra-intestinal manifestations of disease, including, most frequently, diarrhoea, weight loss, and anaemia. CD occurs in ∼1% of the western population, being one of the most common autoimmune lifelong d...

Aims: Using data from a population survey in two communities in the region of Sardinia, Italy, we examined the association between illness definition and attribution of personal characteristics to people with alcoholism. Methods: Quota samples, stratified by gender and age, were drawn from the general population (males: 48%; mean age 48±18; rang...

Introduction: Aims: to measure the association between Celiac Disease (CD) and affective disorders, particularlyBipolar Disorder (BD), since it has not been studied yet, and to measure how much the quality of life (QoL) of a person with CD is affected by comorbidity with these disorders. Methods: Design: Case-control study. Cases: 60 consecutive...

The acquisition of social and emotional skills is associated with positive youth development, character education, healthy lifestyle behaviours, reduction in depression and anxiety, conduct disorders, violence, bullying, conflict, and anger. School-based interventions aimed to enhance these skills go beyond a problem-focused approach to embrace a m...

The school setting may be the optimal context for early screening of and intervention on child mental health problems, because of its large reach and intertwinement with various participants (child, teacher, parent, other community services). But this setting also exposes children to the risk of stigma, peer rejection and social exclusion. This sys...

Abstract The prevalence of eating disorders (ED) in the community is still under debate, as well as the measure of their impact on the well-being of individuals. It was decided to evaluate the prevalence of eating disorders in an Italian community sample as well as to measure the burden of the quality of life of people and to compare it to those at...

Introduction: Cortisol plays a central role in the stress response; while high stress can determine physical and psychological impairment, moderate stress, with a mild increase in cortisol level, may have a positive effect on coping and physical performance. This trial attempted to determine whether cortisol levels were associated with Quality of...

Clothing function is not only to protect and defend our body, but also to send messages about our social role, our personality and so on. In our research, we identified five different female looks. With the help of a model, the five looks were presented coupled. Participants, composed by men and women of different ages (between 20 and 25 years or b...