Personalized Management of Fatigue in Individuals With Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long COVID Using a Smart Digital mHealth Solution: Protocol for a Participatory Design Approach.

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is the most common symptom in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and long COVID, impacting patients' quality of life; however, there is currently a lack of evidence-based context-aware tools for fatigue self-management in these populations. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to (1) address fatigue in ME/CFS and long COVID through the development of digital mobile health solutions for self-management, (2) predict perceived fatigue severity using real-time data, and (3) assess the feasibility and potential benefits of personalized digital mobile health solutions. METHODS: The MyFatigue project adopts a patient-centered approach within the participatory health informatics domain. Patient representatives will be actively involved in decision-making processes. This study combines inductive and deductive research approaches, using qualitative studies to generate new knowledge and quantitative methods to test hypotheses regarding the relationship between factors like physical activity, sleep behaviors, and perceived fatigue in ME/CFS and long COVID. Co-design methods will be used to develop a personalized digital solution for fatigue self-management based on the generated knowledge. Finally, a pilot study will evaluate the feasibility, acceptance, and potential benefits of the digital health solution. RESULTS: The MyFatigue project opened to enrollment in November 2023. Initial results are expected to be published by the end of 2024. CONCLUSIONS: This study protocol holds the potential to expand understanding, create personalized self-management approaches, engage stakeholders, and ultimately improve the well-being of individuals with ME/CFS and long COVID. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/50157.

Concerns, Mental Health, and Quality of Life in Living Kidney Donation-Parent Donor Candidates Worry Less about Themselves.

Even though the majority of living kidney donor candidates appear in good mental health and show few concerns little is known concerning the influence of the type of donor-recipient relationship on donor candidates' specific concerns with regard to kidney donation. 136 donor candidates at Virgen del Rocío University Hospital of Seville filled in the Scale of Concerns Regarding Living Kidney Donation of whom 105 donor candidates and their corresponding recipients (105 patients with End-Stage Renal Disease) were further evaluated with regard to mental health (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-II) and quality of life (SF-36 Health Survey). As hypothesized recipients scored higher on depression and lower on quality of life. Donor candidates intending to donate to their children were significantly less concerned about risks of donation for themselves compared to donor candidates donating to siblings. Our findings highlight the importance of the type of donor-recipient relationship to understand specific concerns of donor candidates and optimize psychosocial assessment and support. From an evolutionary perspective parents lack of concern about their own well-being can be seen as an altruistic behavior to increase children's fitness at the (potential) expense of their own fitness.

Apego preocupado, pensamiento rumiativo y pensamiento referencial en candidatos a cirugía bariátrica / No disponible

La cirugía bariátrica se ha erigido como la técnica más potente en el tratamiento de la obesidad mórbida. El objetivo de este estudio era estudiar las diferencias existentes entre un grupo de candidatos a cirugía bariátrica y una muestra control en las variables apego, pensamiento rumiativo y referencial. El diseño del estudio es ex post facto prospectivo. De los 285 sujetos que participaron en el estudio, 162 eran pacientes candidatos a cirugía bariátrica. Los 123 participantes restantes eran individuos de la población general seleccionados por conveniencia. Se emplearon: Cuestionario de Apego Adulto, Escala de Pensamiento Referencial y Escala de Respuestas Rumiativas. A partir de los resultados del estudio, se concluye que existe una mayor prevalencia de apego preocupado en el grupo no apto para la cirugía bariátrica, al igual que mayor presencia, tanto de pensamiento referencial como pensamiento rumiativo en ese mismo grupo conforme a los otros dos grupos de comparación

Bariatric surgery has become the most efficient technique in the treatment of morbid obesity. The goal of this study was to analyze the differences between a bariatric surgery candidates group and a control sample in the variables attachment, rumination, and referential thinking. The design of this study is ex post facto prospective. From the 285 subjects who participated in the study, 162 were bariatric surgery candidates. The other 123 participants were individuals from the general population selected by convenience. For data collection was used the Cuestionario de Apego Adulto (Adult Attachment Questionnaire), the Escala de Pensamiento Referencial (Referential Thinking Scale) and the Escala de Respuestas Rumiativas (Ruminative Responses Scale). We conclude there is a larger prevalence of concerned attachment in the group of candidates not suitable for bariatric surgery, as well as a greater presence of both referential and ruminative thinking in the same group comparing to the other two groups

Anxiety and concerns in Spanish living kidney donor candidates.

OBJECTIVES: Donating a kidney while alive is an experience associated with important benefits for donors and recipients. In view of the inexistence of Spanish investigations, we aimed: (a) to compare the anxiety and concerns of Spanish living kidney donor candidates relating to themselves as a function of gender and their level of concern about potential kidney recipients, and (b) to analyze whether the results regarding anxiety symptoms were clinically significant compared with a representative sample of the general Spanish population. METHODS: We selected 67 donor candidates whom we evaluated using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Scale of Concerns Regarding Living Kidney Donation. RESULTS: (1) The donor candidates who were more concerned about the recipients, in comparison with those who were less concerned, showed more state-anxiety and more concerns about themselves as donors, (2) the subgroup of more concerned females exhibited greater anxiety symptoms and concern about the consequences that nephrectomy could have on themselves, and (3) for all donor candidates, regardless of gender or level of concern about the recipient, the anxiety levels were not clinically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety in donor candidates is similar to or lower than the normative levels.

Aplicación del programa de Reducción del Estrés Basado en la Atención Plena (REBAP) en pacientes con enfermedad orgánica atendidos en el Programa de Enlace e Interconsultas de Salud Mental. Un estudio piloto / No disponible

El Programa de Enlace e Interconsultas de Salud Mental del Hospital Universitario "Virgen del Rocío" de Sevilla atiende a pacientes hospitalizados que presentan alteraciones emocionales que repercuten negativamente en su enfermedad (cáncer, dolor crónico, trasplante de órganos, enfermedades crónicas, etc.) e interfieren en su proceso de recuperación. Algunos/as de estos/as pacientes precisan atención psicoterapéutica tras el alta hospitalaria y una posible alternativa eficaz sería la aplicación del programa REBAP (Reducción del estrés basado en la Atención Plena). El principal objetivo del uso de este programa de tratamiento sería que los/as pacientes tomasen una respuesta emocional adaptativa ante la enfermedad orgánica que padecen, de modo que las alteraciones emocionales disminuyeran y dejaran de interferir en el curso de la enfermedad. El presente trabajo recoge los datos de un estudio piloto realizado con un grupo de pacientes a quienes se les aplicó el programa a lo largo de ocho sesiones usando un formato grupal. Los resultados obtenidos apuntan a que el programa REBAP es un instrumento útil para lograr que la sintomatología afectiva de los/as pacientes disminuya, puesto que consiguen preservar su autoestima y aceptar de forma más adaptativa las limitaciones derivadas de su enfermedad física

The Consultation-Liaison Mental Health program of the University Hospital "Virgen del Rocío", in Seville, assists to patients with emotional disturbances that negatively impact their illness (cancer, chronic pain, organ transplantation, chronic diseases, etc.) and interfere with their recovery process. Some patients require psychotherapeutic care after hospital discharge and a possible effective alternative would be the implementation of the MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) program. The main purpose of this treatment program would be that patients took an adaptive emotional response to the organic disease causing the reduction of the emotional disturbance and stopping the interference in the course of the disease. This paper provides data from a pilot study of a group of patients who were administered the program over eight group sessions. The results indicate that the program is useful to make affective symptomatology decrease, since patients get to preserve their self-esteem and accept in a more adaptively way the limitations imposed by his physical illness

Estudio de los constructos de self, salud, enfermedad, psicólogo y psiquiatra en sujetos depresivos y ansiosos / Investigating personal construct of self, health, illness, psychologist and psychiatrist in depressive and anxious patients

Cuarenta y dos sujetos depresivos y cincuenta y ocho sujetos con trastornos por ansiedad fueron estudiados a través de la técnica de la rejilla en su primera consulta a un Centro de Salud Mental. Se exploraron 29 constructos relacionados con el self, la salud/enfermedad (física y mental), el psicólogo y psiquiatra y diferentes intervenciones terapéuticas. Se aplicó el Análisis de los Componentes Principales como estadístico. Los resultados muestran que los sujetos depresivos tienen un nivel de autoestima más bajo que los ansiosos; en ambos grupos el psicólogo y el psiquiatra se sitúan cercanos a los constructos padre ideal y curación; el constructo enfermedad mental es construido como rechazado (AU)