Perfil de personalidad en pacientes con trasplante renal: el modelo alternativo de los cinco factores / Personality profile of kidney transplant patients: the alternative five factor model

Resumen Introducción: la investigación sobre rasgos de personalidad en pacientes con trasplante renal es limitada. El objetivo de este estudio fue describir el perfil de personalidad de pacientes con trasplante renal, utilizando el modelo alternativo de cinco factores (AFFM), y compararlo con población estándar española. Material y métodos: la personalidad fue evaluada mediante el Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ). Una muestra de 207 pacientes con trasplante renal se emparejó por edad y género con 207controles de la población estándar. El análisis de regresión logística permitió estudiar la aportación de cada dimensión del ZKPQ al perfil distintivo de los pacientes trasplantados. Resultados: aparecieron diferencias significativas en las dimensiones de Neuroticismo-Ansiedad (p=.001), Agresión-Hostilidad (p=.009) y Actividad (p=.001), con puntuaciones bajas en pacientes trasplantados en comparación con la población estándar. La sociabilidad (p=.024) fue significativamente mayor en pacientes trasplantados. En el análisis de regresión, las bajas puntuaciones en Neuroticismo-Ansiedad (p=.005) y Actividad (p=.001) fueron predictores significativos para caracterizar los rasgos de personalidad de pacientes trasplantados. Conclusiones: desde el AFFM, los pacientes con trasplante renal muestran un perfil diferente de personalidad comparado con la población estándar, con bajas puntuaciones en las dimensiones de Neuroticismo-Ansiedad y Actividad.

Abstract Background: There is limited research on personality traits that characterized kidney transplant patients. The aim of this study was to describe personality profile of kidney transplant patients using the Alternative Five Factor Model (AFFM), and compared it with the Spanish standard population. Method: Personality was assessed using the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ). A sample of 207 kidney transplant patients was matched by age and gender with 207 standard range controls. A logistic regression analyses was utilized to study the contribution of each ZKPQ dimension to describe the distinctive transplant patient's profile. Results: Significant differences were showed in Neuroticism-Anxiety (p=.001), Aggression-Hostility (p=.009), and Activity (p=.001) dimensions, with lower scores on transplant patients compared with standard population. But Sociability (p=.024) was significantly higher on kidney transplant patients. In logistic regression analysis low scores on Neuroticism-Anxiety (p=.005) and Activity (p=.001) were the significant predictors to characterize personality traits of kidney transplant patients. Conclusions: Kidney transplant patients had a differential profile under the AFFM compared to standard range sample, with lower scores on Neuroticism-Anxiety and Activity dimensions.

Versión española del COPE-48: evaluación del afrontamiento en pacientes psiquiátricos ambulatorios / The epanish version of the COPE-48: assessing coping strategies in psychiatric outpatients

Introducción: La utilización el COPE en contextos clínicos permite conocer las estrategias que utilizan las personas para afrontar situaciones estresantes y por ende incidir sobre ellas mediante tratamiento psicológico. Objetivo: presentar a la comunidad científica de habla hispana la versión española del COPE-48 junto con las propiedades psicométricas obtenidas en una muestra de personas adultas con psicopatología. Métodos: la muestra estuvo formada por 301 participantes (62.5% mujeres). Resultados: la consistencia interna media de las escalas es de 0.81. Nuestros resultados muestran un patrón diferencial en la utilización de las estrategias según el género. Conclusiones: la administración del COPE-48 en contextos clínicos es de gran utilidad práctica, puesto que permite conocer de modo rápido, fácil y preciso las estrategias más frecuentemente utilizadas por los pacientes para afrontar situaciones altamente demandantes. Dicho conocimiento permite intervenir mediante tratamiento psicológico para instaurar, potenciar o minimizar las estrategias necesarias para afrontar una determinada situación comprometida.

Introduction: In clinical settings, the COPE questionnaire allows to assess the strategies people use to cope with stressful situations and therefore, if needed, to modify them through psychological treatment. Objective: The aim of this study is to offer to the Spanish-speaking scientific community the Spanish version of the COPE-48 along with the psychometric properties obtained in a sample of adults with psychopathology. Material and Methods: The sample consisted of 301 participants (62.5% women). Results: The average internal consistency of the scales was 0.81. Our results showed a gender pattern in the use of the coping strategies. Conclusions: In clinical settings, the administration of the COPE-48 allows a quick, easy and accurate assessment of the most frequently used strategies to cope with highly demanding situations. This knowledge makes possible to intervene with psychological treatment and whenever appropriate to establish, enhance or minimize the strategies needed to face difficult situations.

Vulnerability to Psychopathology and Dimensions of Personality in Patients With Fibromyalgia.

OBJECTIVE: Fibromyalgia (FM) patients may present psychopathology and some characteristic personality traits that may affect their adaptation to the disease. The aim of this paper was to study the relationship between personality dimensions according to the psychobiological model of Cloninger and the presence of psychopathology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study sample consisted of 42 patients with FM and 38 pain-free controls. The assessment instruments administered were the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory. RESULTS: A higher proportion of clinical psychopathologic syndromes (CPS) was observed in the FM group than in the control group, the most prevalent being anxiety disorder and dysthymia. Patients with FM (with CPS or without CPS) presented higher Harm Avoidance than the control group, and the presence of a CPS also increased Harm Avoidance scores. FM patients with CPS had low Self-directedness (SD) compared with both the control group and with their FM peers without CPS. Purposefulness and Anticipatory worry-Pessimism explained 38% of the variance of dysthymia, and anticipatory worry-Pessimism explained 18% of the variance of anxiety disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with FM have a high probability of anxious-depressive-type psychopathologic alterations. Their vulnerability to these conditions may be determined by personality traits. The SD character dimension may have implications for therapy, as low SD is associated with the presence of psychopathology and with a low capacity to cope with the disease.

Cloninger's psychobiological model of personality and psychological distress in fibromyalgia.

AIM: Personality can play an important role in the clinical symptoms of fibromyalgia (FM). The aim of this study is to identify personality profiles in FM patients and the possible presence of personality disorder (PD) from the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R), and to assess whether personality dimensions are related to psychological distress in FM. METHOD: The sample consisted of 42 patients with FM and 38 healthy controls. The TCI-R, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Short-Form-36 Health Survey, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and McGill Pain Questionnaire were administered. RESULTS: The personality profile of the FM group based on the TCI-R is defined by high Harm Avoidance (HA), low Novelty Seeking (NS), and low Self-Directedness (SD). Only one-third of patients with FM present a possible psychometric PD, principally from Cluster C. In the FM group, HA and SD are associated positively and negatively, respectively, with indicators of emotional distress. Patients with higher HA present higher perceived pain intensity rated via a verbal-numerical scale while Determination (SD2) reduced the perceived level of pain induced by the stimulus. NS is negatively related to the number of work absences caused by FM. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that HA and SD play an important role in psychological distress in FM. The fact that SD is prone to modification and has a regulatory effect on emotional impulses is a key aspect to consider from the psychotherapeutic point of view.

Chronic fatigue syndrome and personality: a case-control study using the Alternative Five Factor Model.

Neuroticism is the personality dimension most frequently associated with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Most studies have also shown that CFS patients are less extraverted than non-CFS patients, but results have been inconsistent, possibly because the facets of the extraversion dimension have not been separately analyzed. This study has the following aims: to assess the personality profile of adults with CFS using the Alternative Five-Factor Model (AFFM), which considers Activity and Sociability as two separate factors of Extraversion, and to test the discriminant validity of a measure of the AFFM, the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire, in differentiating CFS subjects from normal-range matched controls. The CFS sample consisted of 132 consecutive patients referred for persistent fatigue or pain to the Department of Medicine of a university hospital. These were compared with 132 matched normal population controls. Significantly lower levels of Activity and significantly higher levels of Neuroticism-Anxiety best discriminated CFS patients from controls. The results are consistent with existing data on the relationship between Neuroticism and CFS, and clarify the relationship between Extraversion and CFS by providing new data on the relationship of Activity to CFS.

Spanish normative data of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire in a general population sample.

The Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ), a tool designed to measure the alternative five-factor model of personality, was translated and adapted into the Spanish language. To date, there appears to be no normative data for the ZKPQ in general population samples in any culture. The aim of this study was to obtain Spanish normative data for the scales and subscales in a community sample of the general population. The questionnaire was administered to 1,678 participants of both genders (55.8 % females) with ages ranging from 18 to 93 years. The magnitude of the sample, as well as an adequate representativity of both genders and the wide age range being considered, provides a satisfactory description of each scale and subscale of this instrument. The normative data obtained showed a normal distribution of the scales. The norms (means and standard deviations) are presented by gender and five age ranges and are adjusted according to the level of education attained. Gender differences are in accordance with data obtained with instruments measuring similar personality traits. This is the first time the normative data of the ZKPQ is reported in a general community sample in any culture.