Life engagement and anxiety-depressive symptoms in adolescents and young adults with or without a cancer history and their mothers: A dyadic analytic approach.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to examine the dyadic relationships between symptoms of anxiety and depression and life engagement in mother-adolescent and young adult (AYA) dyads with and without a history of cancer. METHODS: One hundred mother-AYA dyads and 50 mother-AYA cancer survivor dyads self-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms and life engagement. Multilevel modelling analyses were used to test actor-partner interdependence models. RESULTS: Significant actor effects of depressive symptoms on life engagement were found for AYAs and their mothers in both groups. But this effect was significantly attenuated downward in AYAs with a history of cancer. In addition, only AYAs' depressive symptoms exerted a significant effect on mothers' life engagement, indicating the presence of significant partner effects for mothers. CONCLUSION: AYAs' and mothers' depressive symptoms are related to life engagement. Mothers' perception of depressive symptoms relates not only to their own perception of life engagement but also to that of their AYAs. These findings show the complex relationships that exist between AYAs and their mothers and point to the mechanisms through which AYAs-related variables affect mother outcomes, in the two groups of AYAs.

Qualitative Methods Used to Generate Questionnaire Items: A Systematic Review.

A systematic review of articles using qualitative methods to generate questionnaire items identified in MEDLINE and PsycINFO from 2000 to 2014 was carried out. Articles were analyzed for (a) year of publication and journal domain, (b) qualitative data collection methods, (c) method of data content analysis, (d) professional experts' input in item generation, and (e) debriefing of the newly developed items. In total, 371 articles were included and results showed (a) an acceleration of published articles, (b) individual interviews and focus groups were common ways of generating items and no emergent approach was identified, (c) the content analysis was usually not described (43% of articles), (d) experts were involved in eliciting concepts in less than a third of articles, (e) 61% of articles involved a step of further submission of newly developed items to the population of interest. This review showed an insufficient reporting of qualitative methods used to generate new questionnaires despite previous recommendations.

Illness perception and quality of life of HIV-positive persons: mediation effects of tenacious and flexible goal pursuit.

Medical advances contribute to raise life expectancy of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV). However, they still face challenges related to the disease, thus, quality of life (QOL) became a priority on the field. The self-regulatory model (SRM) guided this study. Illness perceptions (IP) are the beliefs, cognitions, representations of a disease, impacting PLHIV coping strategies and QOL. Tenacious goal pursuit (TGP) is the pursuit of goals with determination, flexible goal adjustment (FGA) is doing it with flexibility, disengaging if necessary, they can both be considered as coping strategies. This study aims to measure the impact of HIV Perception in the QOL of PLHIV mediated by the TGP and FGA. Data was collected from 196 PLHIV with the WHOQOL-HIV Bref, the Brief-IPQ and the FGA and TGP scales. Structural equation model provided a good fit consistent with the theoretical SRM. IP, TGP and FGA had direct effects on the QOL of PLHIV. IP had also an indirect effect (partially mediated by TGP/FGA), suggesting that TGP/FGA reduce the impact of a threatening IP in the QOL. Goal oriented interventions should focus in the HIV perception of PLHIV to ameliorate their QOL.

Évaluation neuropsychologique des adultes porteurs d'une trisomie 21 en Consultation mémoire : quels outils ? Une revue de la littérature.

Résumé L'augmentation de l'espérance de vie des personnes porteuses d'une trisomie 21 (PPT21) s'accompagne de nouvelles problématiques telles que le déclin cognitif lié au vieillissement et le dépistage/diagnostic de la maladie d'Alzheimer (MA). À travers une revue de la littérature, cet article recense les principaux outils existants pour l'évaluation neuropsychologique de cette population. À partir des bases de données PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, Wiley et le moteur de recherches Google Scholar, ont été inclus dans l'étude les articles publiés de juillet à décembre 2020, concernant les PPT21 d'âge supérieur ou égal à 18 ans et contenant des échelles d'évaluation cognitive. Quatre-vingt-cinq articles ont été sélectionnés qui comprenaient 186 outils d'évaluation. La quasi-totalité de ces épreuves n'a toutefois pas fait l'objet de validation en langue française et moins d'un tiers étaient spécifiquement conc¸us pour une évaluation diagnostique de la MA chez des PPT21. L'objectif de cette revue est de souligner la nécessité de développer des outils neuropsychologiques spécifiques pour le diagnostic de MA chez les PPT21, validés en langue française. Abstract Improvement of life expectancy in people with Down syndrome (DS) is associated with new problems such as cognitive decline associated with aging and screening/diagnosis for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in this population. The aim of this review is to identify the main tools used in the literature for the cognitive evaluation in this population. Research was conducted on PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science and Wiley databases and Google Scholar from July to November 2020, concerning persons with DS, aged of 18 years or more, and evaluated with cognitive assessment scales.196 assessment tools were identified among the 85 articles included. However, most tools had not been validated in French, and only one third were specifically designed for a diagnosis of AD in people with DS. These results underline the need to develop specific tools for the diagnosis of AD in people with DS and validated in French.

Item reduction based on rigorous methodological guidelines is necessary to maintain validity when shortening composite measurement scales.

OBJECTIVE: To review current practice and update guidelines for the methodology of shortening composite measurement scales (CMSs). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A literature review gathered data on 91 shortening processes from 1995 to 2009. The validity of the initial CMS, the shortening methods, and the validity of the derived short-form scales were examined. The results were compared with those from a previous literature review (articles from 1985 to 1995) to develop updated guidelines for CMS shortening. RESULTS: The literature review revealed a persisting lack of use of rigorous methodology for CMS shortening. Of the 91 cases of CMS shortening, 36 combined a content approach and a statistical approach; 45 used only a statistical approach and 10 (11%) only a content approach. The updated guidelines deal with the validity and conceptual model of the initial CMS, the preservation of content and psychometric properties during shortening, the selection of items, and the validation of the short form. CONCLUSION: Item reduction based on a rigorous methodology is necessary if the short-form instrument aims to maintain the validity and other measurement properties of the parent instrument, which in turn supports application in research and clinical practice.

Qualidade de vida de pessoas vivendo com HIV/aids: efeitos da percepção da doença e de estratégias de enfrentamento / Quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS: Effects of illness perception and coping strategies

RESUMO A pesquisa objetivou investigar preditores da qualidade de vida (QV) de pessoas vivendo com HIV/aids (PVHA), baseada no modelo de autorregulação de Leventhal, no qual a influência da percepção da doença na QV é mediada por estratégias de enfrentamento. Foram 95 PVHA a responder aos instrumentos Brief IPQ, Brief Cope e WHOQOL-HIV Bref relativos, respectivamente, à percepção da doença, estratégias de enfrentamento e QV. Os resultados indicaram que a percepção da doença teve efeito direto e indireto na QV, mediado por estratégias de enfrentamento. Maior percepção de ameaça da doença associou-se à pior QV percebida; porém, o uso mais frequente das estratégias aceitação, distração e suporte instrumental e a menor utilização de desengajamento comportamental e de reinterpretação positiva amenizaram esse efeito negativo.

ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate the quality of life (QOL) predictors of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), from the perspective of Leventhal’s Self-Regulation Model, in which the influence of the illness perception on QOL is mediated by coping strategies. Ninety-five PLWHA answered to the instruments Brief IPQ, Brief Cope and WHOQOL-HIV BREF concerning, respectively, illness perception, coping strategies and QOL. The results indicate that illness perception has direct and indirect effects in QOL, mediated by coping strategies. The more HIV is perceived as threatening, the worse is the perception of QOL of PLWHA; however, the increased use of acceptance, distraction and instrumental support coping strategies and the less use of behavioral disengagement and positive reinterpretation could mitigate this negative effect.

Avaliação da qualidade de vida infantil: o inventário sistémico de qualidade de vida para crianças / Children's quality of life assessment: child quality of life systemic inventory

A avaliação da qualidade de vida infantil apresenta especificidades metodológicas. O objetivo do presente estudo é analisar as características psicométricas da versão portuguesa do Inventaire Systémique de Qualité de Vie pour Enfants (ISQV-C), que assenta numa abordagem conceptual e metodológica inovadora para a autoavaliação da qualidade de vida, por ser interativo e lúdico, possuir uma psicometria que explora diversas pontuações e permitir uma análise de cada domínio de vida. Participaram do estudo 120 crianças portuguesas, dos 8 aos 12 anos de idade. Os resultados apontam para uma consistência interna satisfatória das quatro pontuações do ISQV-C (Estado, Objetivo, Importância e Qualidade de Vida), atestam validade convergente ao instrumento, não sendo favoráveis à existência de uma estrutura fatorial. Demonstra-se a adequação psicométrica e o interesse da versão portuguesa do ISQV-C.

The assessment of children's quality of life presents specific methodological aspects. The objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Child Quality of Life Systemic Inventory (CQLSI). It is based on an innovative conceptual and methodological approach to quality of life self-assessment. It is interactive and playful, has a psychometry which operates several scores, and allows the analysis of each domain of life. One hundred twenty Portuguese children, from 8 to 12 years old, participated in the study. Results show that internal consistency of the four scores of the CQLSI (State, Goal, Rank and Gap) is satisfactory and all scores have their own specificity. Findings reveal the feasibility of this self-assessment instrument for children's quality of life, demonstrating psychometric adequacy of the Portuguese version.