Analysis of Personality Traits in Patients with Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a highly-curable malignancy mostly affecting young people. As far as we know, there is no published study that has analyzed personality profiles in HL nor their potential role in lymphomagenesis, natural history, or response to treatment. We aim to explore the personality traits of HL patients, as well as the prevalence of mental disorders and suicide ideas. We retrospectively identified all alive HL patients from three centers (Son Espases and Son Llatzer University Hospitals and Hospital del Mar of Barcelona) for using NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Brief Form. Patients with HL showed significantly higher neuroticism scores and lower conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness. Considering maladaptive personality traits, HL patients showed higher levels of detachment and psychoticism. All of these translated into the fact that HL patients showed more than double the prevalence of mental illnesses (41%) and more than triple the prevalence of suicidal ideation or attempts than the general population (15 and 6%, respectively). An exploratory analysis of biomarkers associated with HL personality traits showed that higher scores of neuroticism correlated with more elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and red cell distribution width (RDW), suggesting a potential link between neuroticism and proinflammatory activity in HL.

Face-to-Face and blended methods to improve oral competence in nursing students through simulation.

Communication and interpersonal skills are relevant to the health professions, so it is important to promote these competencies at university. This research assesses the effectiveness of teaching oral competence through simulation using face-to-face and blended methods. A public speaking workshop was conducted in a group of 144 first year nursing students. Three groups were obtained according to the teaching method (Group 1: traditional method-3 sessions, Group 2: traditional method-2 sessions, Group 3: blended method-2 sessions). Public speaking confidence was measured at the beginning and end of the training, and oral competence was assessed at the end. As a result, all groups achieved a good level of oral competence after the training. However, while students in Group 1 showed greater oral competence, with regard to confidence in public speaking, students in Group 1 showed significantly worst results than those in Group 3. We concluded that simulation is a useful strategy to improve cognitive learning, and behavioural and practical competencies such as public speaking. As for the teaching method, although blended learning did not offer better results than traditional learning, it seems useful provide there is at least one face-to-face session so that the student can perform a speech and receive corrective feedback.

Emotional variables, dropout and academic performance in Spanish nursing students.

The dropout of university studies is a main concern in many countries, also for Health Sciences degrees. The reviews on dropout in all university degrees as well as nursing generally show multidimensional causes with factors related both to institutional and students' characteristics. Regarding the personal variables of students, researchers have focused on financial, family and personality features. Far less attention has been devoted to emotional variables. This study aims to explore whether individual variables of the emotional domain such as perceived emotional intelligence, dispositional optimism/pessimism and depressive rumination are related and/or can predict students' intention to dropout and academic performance. Using a cross-correlational approach, data were obtained from a sample of 144 nursing students. Students with a pessimistic disposition revealed a greater tendency to drop out. The remaining variables correlated significantly with pessimism but had no predictive value on dropout. Our results suggest that students with low levels of emotional clarity and repair and high depressive rumination have pessimistic expectations, so they are more likely to leave studies. No significant results were found in relation to academic performance. We conclude with an identification of strategies to increase retention and academic success.