A psychological view on the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions on positive airway pressure treatment adherence and sleep quality in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Positive airway pressure treatment (CPAP) is the gold standard for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). CPAP is highly effective, but its issue lays in poor adherence rates mainly caused by its invasive nature and related stigma. In accordance with a biopsychosocial model of CPAP adherence, psychosocial interventions have been implemented to alleviate low rates of adherence with promising results. The increase in the number of psychosocial interventions has highlighted the need to systematically evaluate their effectiveness. This review aims to identify psychosocial interventions used to increase CPAP adherence, to compile available data on their effectiveness, and the reasons why they are effective. Moreover, the review evaluates the impact of the interventions on sleep quality. Experimental and quasi-experimental studies testing psychosocial interventions (excluding educational only interventions) that aimed to increase CPAP adherence in adults with obstructive sleep apnea vs. no intervention or control group were included. A literature search in PsycINFO, MEDLINE, COCHRANE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Web of Science was performed for studies published in English and French between 1980 and January 2020. Risk of bias and methodological quality were assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tools. Fourteen studies were included involving 1923 participants, six trials tested a motivational intervention, three trials tested a cognitive behavioral intervention and five others tested one of the following: relaxation, exposition therapy, phone coaching, audiotape or stage-matched intervention. Thirteen studies reported a positive effect of the intervention on CPAP adherence, while one reported no effect. Psychosocial interventions for CPAP adherence appear effective at increasing sleep quality, but more studies are needed to test this hypothesis. Reasons for the effectiveness of the interventions were pooled into five categories: time related, the intervention's adaptability, the patient's characteristics, the intervention's nature and characteristics and the intervention's specifics and target. The current review raises a significant gap between the biomedical and psychosocial domains. In fact, even in a psychosocial intervention study, the interpretation of the results revolves around biomedical models and very little consideration is given to biopsychosocial models. Our findings demonstrate the importance of examining the relationship between psychosocial variables and CPAP adherence to better tailor interventions to increase CPAP adherence.

Validation of the Insomnia Severity Index as an outcome measure for insomnia research.

Background: Insomnia is a prevalent health complaint that is often difficult to evaluate reliably. There is an important need for brief and valid assessment tools to assist practitioners in the clinical evaluation of insomnia complaints.Objective: This paper reports on the clinical validation of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) as a brief screening measure of insomnia and as an outcome measure in treatment research. The psychometric properties (internal consistency, concurrent validity, factor structure) of the ISI were evaluated in two samples of insomnia patients.Methods: The first study examined the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the ISI in 145 patients evaluated for insomnia at a sleep disorders clinic. Data from the ISI were compared to those of a sleep diary measure. In the second study, the concurrent validity of the ISI was evaluated in a sample of 78 older patients who participated in a randomized-controlled trial of behavioral and pharmacological therapies for insomnia. Change scores on the ISI over time were compared with those obtained from sleep diaries and polysomnography. Comparisons were also made between ISI scores obtained from patients, significant others, and clinicians.Results: The results of Study 1 showed that the ISI has adequate internal consistency and is a reliable self-report measure to evaluate perceived sleep difficulties. The results from Study 2 also indicated that the ISI is a valid and sensitive measure to detect changes in perceived sleep difficulties with treatment. In addition, there is a close convergence between scores obtained from the ISI patient's version and those from the clinician's and significant other's versions.Conclusions: The present findings indicate that the ISI is a reliable and valid instrument to quantify perceived insomnia severity. The ISI is likely to be a clinically useful tool as a screening device or as an outcome measure in insomnia treatment research.

[Evaluation of nutrition instruction in a group of Senegalese students at the secondary level]. / Evaluation d'un enseignement sur la nutrition auprès d'élèves Sénégalais de niveau secondaire.

BACKGROUND: In Senegal, nutrition instruction was implanted in 1981 in the national curriculum of biology and has never been evaluated since. METHODS: The purpose of this study, was to evaluate the effect of a six weeks nutrition instruction program on improving nutrition knowledge and nutrition attitudes in an experimental group including 81 subjects aged 16.7+/-1.2 years and a control group including 80 subjects aged 15.7+/-1.3 years. These subjects came respectively from third and fourth grade. A questionnaire on knowledge and one on attitudes were administered to the experimental group, before and after the nutrition instruction, while the control group, who did not received any nutrition instruction, also answered the questionnaires. RESULTS: Results indicate that the adjusted mean knowledge posttest scores did not significantly increase in the experimental group compared to the control group. In addition, the adjusted mean attitude postscores of the boys and girls of the experimental group on the attitude scale "Nutrition affects health" were significantly higher from that of the control group. CONCLUSION: An evaluation of the nutrition curriculum and the teaching methods is suggested in order to improve the effectiveness of this nutrition program.

Functional and dysfunctional perfectionists: are they different on compulsive-like behaviors?

Both perfectionism and excessive responsibility have been linked to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Up to now however, a greater number of studies have focused on the role of responsibility. The present study compared compulsive-like behavior of people with different styles of perfectionism. Sixteen functional perfectionists (FP) and 16 dysfunctional perfectionists (DP) were compared on three different tasks in order to explore OC type behavior such as doubting, checking and intrusions. Results show that DP participants, compared to FP participants, scored higher on an OC behavior scale, took significantly more time to complete a precision task and precipitated their decision when confronted with ambiguity. The two groups also tended to differ in their intrusive thoughts following an unsolved problem; FP participants were more preoccupied about solving the problem than about the quality of their performance, contrary to DP subjects. Results are discussed according to theoretical models of OCD.