Animal-assisted Interventions: Review of Current Status and Future Challenges

Previous bibliographic reviews have highlighted that Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs), though promising, may have some weaknesses in their empirical basis that must be addressed. Present study reviewed 228 references gathered through PyscINFO database, all of which included the terms animal and assisted within the key concepts field, providing several indicators of productivity (such as publications per year, the relative presence of different types of texts, the country and the language of publication, the author’s productivity and type of reference, and the main sources of information such as journals and research teams) and content (relative presence of different assisted interventions, methodology, areas of interest, and contents addressed by the most prolific authors) in the field. The number of texts on AAI published per year has increased only slightly in the last decade, and such texts have been published in mainly U.S. English-language sources. Animal assisted therapy appeared as the most researched intervention, although inconsistencies in the use of terms and definitions were found. Empirical studies represented most of the classified texts, although their prominence among the most prolific authors was low. It was detected that AAIs have an increasing empirical base, although the gap between research and dissemination keeps open. More research efforts will be necessary to cover the deficiencies identified in the field (AU)

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Evaluación del componente afectivo de la depresión: análisis factorial del ST/DEP revisado

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Abstract: Depression is a main Public Health problem due to its high prevalence and to the costs for intervention and treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to identify strategies that allow an adequate assessment that would let us obtain a more precise and useful diagnosis. Nevertheless, animportant obstacle for this task, is a lack of theoretical clarity in regard to diagnostic criteria or, especially, to symptoms which are relevant for depression. This fact is obvious in the scales focused on depression assessment, which have a broad variety of symptoms to assess, and it is possible to overestimate some areas or to underestimate others, related to theoretical criterions which were involved in test construction. So, depression is evaluated in accordance with the questionnaire that is used and, of course, depending of theoretical framework that supports this tool. Therefore, depression is defined in line with the criteria which evaluates it, with regard to assessment s criteria, which could explain the usual difficulty to identify common symptoms when some tools are used, which are then identified as genuine symptoms of depression. As the aim of this paper is to improve some of this limitations, the State/Trait Depression Questionnaire (ST/DEP) is showed as an useful tool for clinical and research work. It offers an assessment of one of the component of depression, the affective one, providing two measures: State and Trait. This allows to differentiate between intensity and frequency. Main-axis factor analysis has been made and the results have shown two main factors in affectivity: Dysthymia (negative affection) and Euthymia (positive affection). The interest on positive affection assessment aims to obtain a more precise tool. So, when scores are inverted in positive items, it is possible to obtain a measurement of low levels on affectation. The relevance of this fact is emphasized because it has been neglected in most of depression scales, that only identify presence or absence, a fact that limits the ability to estimate slight modifications. This issue is very useful at two levels: clinic and research. At a clinical level because it permits to identify slight changes in affectation, which could be important as measurement oftherapeutic efficacyand ofsymptoms remission. In research, because it offers the possibility to dispose of one able tool to differenciate of low levels of affectation, which allow a more accurate estimation of the depression symptoms, specially when working with a nonclinical population. The present study was carried out with a sample of 300 participants (103 males and 197 females), with mean age of 21.82 (2.74 s.d.) for males and 22.26 (3.66 s.d.) for females. It was an instrumental study where the Spanish Experimental Version of Stat-Trait Depression (ST/DEP) was used. All participants received information about research and they answered the questionnaires voluntarily. The findings are shown separately for the two scales (State and Trait) and for the two sub-scales (Dysthymia and Euthymia). Data indicated significant differences between males and females, being the highest scores for females. This is an evidence related to the higher prevalence of depression in women. It is very important to remark that essentially the same strong state and trait factors were found for both males and females, according to the factor structure of the Spanish Experimental Version of the State-Trait Depression Questionnaire (ST/DEP). These factors explained the 54% variance for females and of 53% for males. The Promax Rotation differentiated two factors clearly: Dysthimia and Euthymia. That was similar to what was found in the original English form of the ST-DEP. The factorial structure was then confirmed, because of the bifactorial structure which differentiated the negative and positive affectivity of Depression. Another positive result was the test ability to detect slight changes on affectivity, which will be useful to differentiate between clinical and non clinical population. It is important to point out that the ST/DEP is a measurement of one component of depression: affectivity, which has been identified as a relevant component in this disorder, but this tool is not enough to diagnose depression. This fact is relevant, because some tools for depression assessment are used as a diagnostic criteria, a fact that increases confusion in making a differential diagnostic between anxiety and depression or some other symptoms and clinical problems. All this results provide evidences of the psychometric properties of the Spanish ST-DEP, and make this scale a fruitful and useful assessment instrument.

Uso del cuestionario EORTC QLQ-C30 para evaluar la calidad de vida en la enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica (EPOC) / Use of EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire to assess quality of life at Chronic Pulmonary Obstructive Disease (COPD)

Los aspectos psicosociales de la Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Crónica (EPOC) han sido abordados especialmente desde el ámbito de la Calidad de Vida, pero disponemos de pocos instrumentos útiles para evaluarla. Hemos estudiado el funcionamiento del cuestionario EORTC QLQ-C30 tras aplicarlo a dos grupos de enfermos con EPOC (32 enfermos estabilizados y 32 enfermos en un momento de descompensación). Encontramos que esta prueba proporciona perfiles diferentes acordes a las distintas situaciones médicas, muestra buenos índices de fiabilidad y tiene una aceptable capacidad predictiva sobre las alteraciones afectivas (ansiedad y depresión evaluadas con el Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Concluimos que este cuestionario puede ser utilizado como base para elaborar un instrumento específico para esta población. Además, encontramos datos que muestran el gran deterioro vital que puede implicar una EPOC (AU)

La conducta de enfermedad: análisis de su capacidad para caracterizar grupos de enfermos a nivel psicosocial / Illness behavior: capacity to distinguish groups of patients psychosocially

La necesidad de caracterizar a nivel psicosocial a distintos grupos de enfermos ha llevado al uso de diversos conceptos, entre los que destaca el de Conducta de Enfermedad. Hemos evaluado la capacidad de este concepto para diferenciar entre tres grupos de enfermos (EPOC estabilizados, EPOC descompensados y Cáncer de pulmón quirúrgico). Para ello hemos utilizado el Illness Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) y aplicado un Análisis Discriminante. Nuestros resultados han mostrado la capacidad de este concepto para distinguir a enfermos con patologías diversas, especialmente entre aquellos que padecen una enfermedad crónica aguda. (AU)

The need of characterizing psychosocially different groups of patients has lead to the use of several concepts, among which Illness Behavior could be highlighted. We have assessed the capacity of this concept to differentiate among three groups of patients (stabilized COPD, acute COPD and surgical lung cancer). Illness Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) has been employed, and Discriminant Analysis has been applied. The results indicated that this concept distinguishes among patients with diverse pathologies, especially among those who suffer a chronic and acute disease (AU)

La calidad de Vida en la salud: un análisis conceptual / Health-related Quality of Life: a conceptual analysis

El concepto de Calidad de Vida en la Salud es utilizado con profusión, si bien no ha sido satisfactoria y consensuadamente definido. Hemos realizado un repaso histórico que nos ha permitido contextualizar este concepto, enfatizando las circunstancias que han permitido su desarrollo: cambios en el concepto de salud, distinción entre cantidad y calidad de vida, y limitaciones de los indicadores tradicionales de salud. Hemos analizado los distintos dominios en que es descompuesto, y revisado los problemas a los que se enfrenta su evaluación. Además, hemos propuesto un continuum en el que se recogerían las definiciones de este concepto, recorriendo un amplio rango desde un enfoque objetivo y naturalista hasta otro subjetivo y hermenéutico. Finalmente, planteamos la necesidad de avanzar en su delimitación conceptual y mantener una mayor rigurosidad en su uso (AU)

Análisis del concepto de Conducta de Enfermedad: un acercamiento a los aspectos psicosociales del enfermar / Illness Behavior concept analysis: an approach to psychosocial understanding of human getting ill

El concepto de Conducta de Enfermedad ha permitido fructíferos acercamientos a la comprensión psicosocial del enfermar humano, pero en la actualidad es usado de una manera vaga y confusa. Hemos realizado un repaso histórico de este concepto, atendiendo especialmente a las formas en que ha sido utilizado. También hemos analizado la situación de crisis conceptual en la que se encuentra, y planteado la necesidad de delimitar con claridad las dimensiones que lo configuran. (AU)

La codependencia en el actual sistema sanitario / Codependence in health system

En las últimas décadas asistimos a un incremento de investigaciones sobre aquellas familias que tienen que asumir el cuidado de sujetos con enfermedades crónicas, cuya evolución puede implicar una falta de autonomía y una incapacidad para realizar las tareas de autocuidado. En general, estos cuidadores, generalmente mujeres, han de afrontar no sólo los cambios conductuales que presentan estos enfermos sino también asumir el cuidado y la atención de sus necesidades (incluso de las más básicas o de autocuidado) y, además compatibilizarlo bien con otras responsabilidades familiares o bien con su actividad laboral. Entre el numeroso cuerpo de investigaciones se destacan, desde sus inicios, aquellas relacionadas con el estrés que se deriva de la situación de cuidador. Sin embargo, en pocas ocasiones se ha analizado la importancia que las variables de personalidad (o incluso los trastornos de personalidad) pueden ejercer la calidad diaria cuidador- cuidado. Es este el propósito del presente trabajo, en el que analizaremos el papel que la codependencia juega en dicha relación.

In the last decade, numerous studies report the challenges of family caregiving, particularly as experienced by the female caregiven who must contend with a complex seto f behavioral changes evidence by their care receiver, the provision of activities of daily living and, reside, accommodate caregiving responsibilities and employment or others household tasks, informal caregiving has moved from descriptive beginnings to a number of theoretically driven approaches, one of the most influential being stress theory and these is a substantial literature documenting the stressfulness of caregiving for a family member witch chronic illness. However, one personal resource of caregivers which has been identified as potentially important, yet which has not received much attention, is personality and / or personality disorders. The aim of this article is to examine the role of codependency in...