RESUMEN
Introduction: Utilization of health services is not only associated with the kind of illness one has, but also with patient characteristics like age, sex or psychological variables. Psoriasis (PS) is a chronic inflammatory skin condition, in which psychological interventions were shown to be beneficial regarding not only psychological variables, but also regarding the skin status. The present study investigated with regard to which patient characteristics PS-patients with interest in participation in a short psychological intervention differ from PS-patients without interest. Methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted at a German rehabilitation clinic. At the beginning of their stay at the clinic, 127 PS-patients filled in questionnaires to assess the severity of their PS, stress, illness perceptions, mindfulness, anxiety, and depression. Interest in taking part in a short psychological intervention was assessed using a dichotomous item. The statistical analysis comprised group comparisons using t-tests of patients with and without interest to take part in a short psychological intervention. Results: Sixty-four of the participants were male (50.4%). Participants were 50.7 ± 10 years on average (range: 25-65). 50.4% of them had a mild, 37.0% a moderate, and 12.6% a severe PS. Results indicated that patients with interest in a short psychological intervention were younger, reported to have more skin symptoms due to their PS (higher skin-related illness identity), were more anxious and depressed, but less stressed and less mindful than patients without interest. Conclusion: This study shows that in PS-patients with certain characteristics, it might help to raise awareness on the relationship between psychological factors and symptoms of the skin disease in order to motivate this group of patients to take part in psychological interventions to improve their skin condition. Further studies are needed to investigate whether patients who show interest in a psychological intervention also actually take part in the intervention and profit from it.Clinical Trial Registration: DRKS00017426.
RESUMEN
INTRODUCTION: Psoriasis (PS) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease accompanied by reduced quality of life. Mindfulness is the ability to focus on the present moment without evaluation. Findings on the effects of 8-week mindfulness trainings in patients with PS reveal positive effects on the severity of the disease and quality of life. However, it remained unclear what distinguishes patients with PS interested in psychological interventions from those without interest and whether also a shorter, namely 2-week mindfulness-based intervention is beneficial in this patient group. This will be investigated with this study. METHODS AND ANALYSES: Data will be collected at a rehabilitation clinic in Germany. The study is divided into two parts: study 1a is an observational study. Its aim is to investigate whether sociodemographic, skin-related and psychological factors are significant predictors of interest in a brief psychological intervention in 127 patients with PS. Study 1b is a randomised controlled trial, in which 60 patients (retrieved from study 1a) will be randomised to an intervention or control group (treatment as usual). The main outcome variables are mindfulness and self-compassion. In addition, mediation analyses will be used in an explorative manner to test whether there is a relationship between mindfulness/self-compassion and the severity of PS and whether it is mediated by itch catastrophising and fear of negative evaluation (first model) or perceived stress (second model). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol has been approved by the University of Giessen. Study results will be disseminated by publication of the results at (inter) national conferences and in scientific journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: DRKS00017426 and DRKS00017429.