Trait resilience as a moderator between personality dysfunction and caregiving stress in caregivers of children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Background: Long-term care of a relative with a disability is associated with negative consequences on the caregiver's mental health. Therefore, investigating how some personality traits, such as resilience, protect caregivers with dysfunctional personality traits from caregiving stress is necessary. This study examines the moderating role of resilience in the relationship between caregiver's personality dysfunction and care stress. Methods: A total of 224 family caregivers of children and adults with developmental disabilities participated in this cross-sectional research. They completed self-report measures of resilience, personality dysfunction, and care stress. Results: The results show that medium and high levels of resilience protect familial caregivers from the adverse effects of personality dysfunction on stress. The relationship is maintained for three of the five dysfunctional personality traits (antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism). Conclusions: From a theoretical point of view, the results show the contribution of the dimensional personality model to the study of caregiving stress. From a practical standpoint, the results can be used to optimise the resilience of familial caregivers, providing them with tools to take better care of their relatives.

Brief online acceptance and commitment therapy for adults with type 1 diabetes: a pilot study.

Recognizing the pivotal role of psychosocial factors in triggering and maintaining Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM), the integration of psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic interventions is associated with comprehensive management of the disease. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a four-week online individual Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention in mitigating diabetes-associated stress, fostering diabetes acceptance, enhancing the patient-doctor relationship, and promoting psychological flexibility in adults diagnosed with T1DM. Employing a single-arm trial design with mixed methodology, thirteen participants (Mage = 39.04, SDage =13.74) engaged in the intervention and completed self-report measures before and after the intervention. Quantitative analysis with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test indicated a statistically significant difference in diabetes-associated stress, diabetes acceptance, and psychological flexibility pre- and post-intervention. Notably, stress levels and psychological inflexibility diminished, while psychological flexibility and diabetes acceptance improved. However, the patient-doctor relationship did not exhibit a significant change. Furthermore, narrative feedback obtained from participants reflected overall satisfaction with the intervention. These preliminary findings contribute to the expanding body of literature supporting the affirmative influence of ACT interventions on individuals with T1DM.

Working Memory and Language Contribution to Verbal Learning and Memory in Drug-Resistant Unilateral Focal Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

We aimed to investigate the working memory (WM) and language separate contributions to verbal learning and memory in patients with unilateral drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (drTLE); additionally, we explored the mediating role of WM on the relationship between the number of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and short-term verbal memory. We retrospectively enrolled 70 patients with left (LTLE; n = 44) and right (RTLE; n = 26) drTLE. About 40 similar (age and education) healthy controls were used to determine impairments of groups at WM, language (naming and verbal fluency), and verbal learning and memory (five trials list-learning, story memory-immediate recall). To disentangle the effect of learning from the short-term memory, we separately analyzed performances at the first trial, last trial, and delayed-recall list-learning measures, in addition to the total learning capacity (the sum of the five trials). Correlation and regression analyses were used to assess the contribution of potential predictors while controlling for main clinical and demographic variables, and ascertain the mediating role of WM. All patients were impaired at WM and story memory, whereas only LTLE showed language and verbal learning deficits. In RTLE, language was the unique predictor for the most verbal learning performances, whereas WM predicted the results at story memory. In LTLE, WM was the sole predictor for short-term verbal learning (list-learning capacity; trial 1) and mediated the interaction between AED number and the performance at these measures, whereas language predicted the delayed-recall. Finally, WM confounded the performance at short-term memory in both groups, although at different measures. WM is impaired in drTLE and contributes to verbal memory and learning deficits in addition to language, mediating the relationship between AED number and short-term verbal memory in LTLE. Clinicians should consider this overlap when interpreting poor performance at verbal learning and memory in drTLE.

COVID-19 Pandemic Worry and Vaccination Intention: The Mediating Role of the Health Belief Model Components.

Given the negative consequences of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on public health, his study aimed at investigating: (1) the differences between adults with and without chronic illness in buying behavior, vaccination intention, pandemic worry, and the health belief model (HBM) components; (2) the HBM components as mediators of the relationship between pandemic worry and vaccination intention. The sample consisted of 864 adults (66.6% females, M age = 47.61, SD = 9.23), of which 20.5% reported having a chronic illness. Associations between pandemic worry, vaccination intention, and HBM were ascertained using correlation and mediation analyses. Individuals with chronic illness reported a higher level of pandemic worry, higher levels of perceived threat, greater benefits from vaccination, had lower self-efficacy and bought more medicine and sanitary/hygienic products. No significant differences were observed regarding vaccination intention, barriers against vaccination, and changes in food buying behavior. We found that the relationship between pandemic worry and vaccination intention was partially mediated by the perceived threat of disease and the benefits of vaccination. Pandemic worry predicted vaccination intention directly but also through the contribution of the perceived threat of disease and the benefits of vaccination. These findings suggest that presenting evidence of COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and the benefits of having the vaccine (especially for vulnerable groups, such as chronic illness patients) will encourage the population to follow vaccination recommendations.

Psychometric properties of the Kingston Caregiver Stress Scale in Romanian caregivers of children and adults with disabilities.

BACKGROUND: The Kingston Caregiver Stress Scale (KCSS) was designed to measure stress in caregivers of people with dementia, but empirical studies have used this instrument to measure stress in caregivers of children and adults with disabilities, without investigating its psychometric properties. AIMS: This study analysed the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the KCSS in Romanian caregivers of children and adults with disabilities. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A total of 276 familial caregivers of children and adults with various disabilities completed measures of caregiver stress and related concepts. After 3 months, 72 participants were retested. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: A new bifactorial model with eight items was compared against the originally proposed trifactorial model and a previously proposed bifactorial model with 10 items. The bifactorial eight-item model had the best fit indices (χ2 = 41.4, df = 19, p = .002, CFI = .981, TLI = .971, RMSEA = .065 [90 % CI = .038, .092]), along with good test-retest reliability and convergent, divergent, and predictive validity of anxiety and depression. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The KCSS is a reliable instrument for assessing caregiver stress among caregivers of children and adults with disabilities. Implications, limitations, and future research suggestions are discussed.

Resilience in Familial Caregivers of Children with Developmental Disabilities: A Meta-analysis.

The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate factors associated with resilience in familial caregivers of children with developmental disabilities. The protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database, with the registration number CRD42018105180. Several electronic databases were searched for studies. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed on 26 selected studies that associated resilience to an array of other variables (i.e., psychological distress, social support, coping, perceived health, life satisfaction). Overall, the significant pooled effect sizes were small to medium, ranging from r = 0.291 for coping to r = 0.442 for social support. Although the literature on the topic has improved, there is a lot of study heterogeneity and the need for focusing on male caregivers becomes evident.