Boys Do Cry: Age and Gender Differences in Psycho-Physiological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy.

This article contributes to the quality of life literature by investigating gender and age gaps in psycho-physiological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Specifically, we investigate whether women experienced higher levels of distress than men, and if such gap can be explained by a greater negative reaction of women in the experience of a negative COVID-19 related event, such as the illness or death of a relative. Moreover, we explore whether age moderated or amplified the effect of a negative event on distress among women and men. To do so we rely on an ad hoc survey carried out between April 2020 and June 2021 in Italy, the first European country to be hit by the pandemic. Our results indicate that subjects who experienced the hospitalization or, more so, the death of a family member during the pandemic were more exposed to psycho-psychological distress compared to subjects who were not directly touched by COVID-19. Moreover, our results show that while women were on average more likely to express feelings of distress than men in absence of evident stressors, this gap disappeared among subjects who experience the death of a relative. Furthermore, our results indicate that experiencing a negative COVID-19 related event led to an increase in distress among all respondents except older men, who appeared to be the most resilient to the manifestation of any sign of distress. These results speak to important age and gender differences in the feelings and externalization of grief in the Italian context.

Effects of yoga practice on physiological distress, fatigue and QOL in patients affected by breast cancer undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy.

Background and purpose: In this study we want to evaluate the efficacy of yoga practice on dysfunctional stress, inflammation and QOL in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy. Patients and methods: Patients with stage 0 to III breast cancer were recruited before starting radiotherapy (XRT) and were randomly assigned to yoga group (YG) two times a week during XRT or control group (CG). Self-report measures of QOL, fatigue and sleep quality, and blood samples were collected at day 1 of treatment, day 15, end of treatment and 1, 3 and 6 months later. Cortisol blood level, IL6, IL10, IL1RA, TNFα and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio were analyzed as measures of dysfunctional stress and inflammation. Results: Patients started XRT and yoga classes in October 2019. Due to COVID-19 pandemic we closed the enrollment in March 2020. We analysed 24 patients, 12 YG and 12 CG. The analysis of blood cortisol levels revealed an interaction (p = 0.04) between yoga practice and time, in particular YG had lower cortisol levels at the end of XRT respect to CG (p-adj = 0.02). The analysis of IL-1RA revealed an interaction effect (p = 0.04) suggesting differences between groups at some time points that post-hoc tests were not able to detect. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effects of yoga in a cancer population studying inflammation markers, cortisol trend and QOL during and until 6 months after XRT. This study suggests that yoga practice is able to reduce stress and inflammation levels over time. Besides including a larger number of patients to increase the power, future studies should consider other inflammatory or pro inflammatory factors and long-term yoga program to gain more evidence on yoga practice benefits.

Waiting to get a pension: The impact of pension eligibility on psychological distress.

In this paper, we examine how pension eligibility affects the psychological distress levels of older women in Australia by exploiting the exogenous changes in the eligibility ages of the old Age Pension (AP). The unique features of the Australian AP allow us to study the impact of the reform on the non-working, as well as on the working population. The empirical results show that pension eligibility has a modest but consistently beneficial effect on psychological stress levels. Reaching pension eligibility significantly reduces the stress levels of women who were out of the labor force, indicating the positive role of the AP for disadvantaged groups. At the same time, women with strenuous jobs experience a significant improvement in their stress levels when they transit into retirement. We show that an improvement in stress levels accompanies an increase in financial security and improvements in social participation and health behaviors. Our results highlight the potentially overlooked consequences of pension reforms for the well-being of vulnerable populations and for health inequalities across socio-economic groups.

Estresse ocupacional e fatores estressores em enfermeiros de unidades de internação clínica / Occupational stress and stressors in clinical inpatient unit nurses / Estrés ocupacional y factores estresores en enfermeros de unidades de hospitalización clínica

A enfermagem destaca-se como uma das profissões com maior risco para desenvolver estresse pela exposição frequente a inúmeros fatores que geram tensão no ambiente de trabalho. O objetivo deste artigo é descrever os níveis de estresse autorreferidos e o perfil sociodemográfico e laboral de enfermeiros, além de discutir os fatores estressores no ambiente laboral dos enfermeiros de unidades de internações clínicas. Após realizar um estudo quantitativo, descritivo e transversal com 39 enfermeiros assistenciais, em um hospital universitário no município do Rio de Janeiro (RJ), os dados foram tratados mediante análise estatística univariada. Os resultados apontam que 87,2% (n = 34) afirmaram ter estresse de moderado a elevado no ambiente laboral. Os estressores autorreferidos mais relatados foram: falta de recursos materiais (insumos e equipamentos) (n = 25, 67,6%), relacionamentos interpessoais (n = 17, 45,9%), falta de estrutura física (n = 12, 32,4%) e a falta de recursos humanos (n = 10, 27%). O estudo é relevante, considerando que o estresse ocupacional pode gerar consequências negativas à saúde física e psíquica dos trabalhadores e, ainda, prejuízos às instituições devido aos afastamentos por motivo de doença dos trabalhadores e à perda de produtividade e qualidade do serviço prestado.

Nursing stands out as one of the professions with the highest risk of developing stress due to frequent exposure to numerous stressors in the work environment. This study describes the self-reported stress levels and the sociodemographic and occupational profile of nurses, besides discussing the stressors in the work environment of clinical inpatient unit nurses. After carrying out a quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study with 39 nursing assistants, in a university hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, data were treated by univariate statistical analysis. Results show that 87.2% (n = 34) of the nurses reported moderate to high stress in the work environment. The most frequently self-reported stressors were lack of material resources (supplies and equipment) (n = 25, 67.6%), interpersonal relationships (n = 17, 45.9%), lack of physical structure (n = 12, 32.4%), and lack of human resources (n = 10, 27%). The study is relevant, as occupational stress can generate negative consequences to the physical and mental health of workers and losses to institutions due to workers' sick leave and loss of productivity and quality of service provided.

La enfermería es una de las profesiones con mayor riesgo de desarrollar estrés debido a la exposición frecuente a muchos factores estresores en el ambiente de trabajo. El objetivo de este artículo es describir los niveles de estrés autoinformados por los enfermeros y su perfil sociodemográfico y laboral, además de discutir los factores estresores en el ambiente laboral de los enfermeros de unidades de hospitalizaciones clínicas. Se realizó un estudio cuantitativo, descriptivo y transversal, a 39 enfermeros asistenciales, en un hospital universitario en el municipio de Río de Janeiro, y los datos fueron tratados mediante análisis estadístico univariado. Los resultados muestran que el 87,2% (n = 34) reportaron tener estrés de moderado a alto en el ambiente laboral. Los factores estresantes más autoinformados fueron: falta de recursos materiales (insumos y equipo) (n = 25; 67,6%), relaciones interpersonales (n = 17; 45,9%), falta de estructura física (n = 12; 32,4%) y falta de recursos humanos (n = 10; 27%). El estudio es relevante, considerando que el estrés ocupacional puede generar consecuencias negativas a la salud física y psíquica de los trabajadores y aún perjuicios a las organizaciones e instituciones, por los alejamientos por motivo de enfermedad de los trabajadores, pérdida de la productividad y de la calidad del servicio prestado.

Symptom clusters in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A systematic review.

AIM: To conduct a comprehensive literature review to identify symptom clusters commonly present in Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. BACKGROUND: COPD is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Substantial research has been studied regarding single symptoms that burden patients with this disease and the profound impacts that these symptoms can have on physical and psychological health. However, these symptoms rarely occur in isolation and limited research has been conducted identifying clinically significant relationships or clusters of symptoms associated with COPD afflicted patients. METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases were used to identify potential articles limited to records published between 2005 and 2018 with human-conducted trials on adults with COPD, examining symptom clusters in this population. Only 5 studies met inclusion criteria. RESULTS: Across the five studies, 596 participants were included with a mean age of 70.49. Two themes emerged including psychological symptom clusters and respiratory-related symptom clusters. Anxiety-related symptoms appeared to be a common theme among psychological symptom clusters and varied greatly based on instrument selection. Inconsistent results were found in respiratory-related symptom clusters, but included difficulty breathing as a common symptom component. Only one study examined for stability of symptoms over time. CONCLUSION: There were inconsistent results across all studies which may be contributed to the heterogeneity amongst patients, instruments administered, and statistical approach. Future research should be conducted to further elucidate COPD related symptom clusters, their effects on somatic and cognitive health, and the stability of these symptom clusters over time.

Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairment in Breast Cancer Patients: Influences of Psychological Variables.

Approximately 3.1 million women in the US are living with breast cancer and up to 75% of these women experience cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI). CRCI is described as impairments in memory, verbal fluency, thought processes, and attention span. Despite the high prevalence of breast cancer, only a few studies have been published on CRCI and most of these studies primarily focused on its pathophysiological mechanism. However, recent evidence has demonstrated that breast cancer patients with CRCI are more likely to have high level of psychologic distress, suggesting a possible relationship between CRCI and psychologic distress. This review aims to examine existing literature that describes CRCI in relation to psychological distress among breast cancer patients. One thousand four hundred and ninety-eight articles were searched using PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Thirteen studies met inclusion criteria, and one article was additionally pulled from article reference lists. Of these19 studies, psychologic distress has been operationalized in varied ways such as anxiety (n = 3), depression (n = 2), both anxiety and depression (n = 4), stress (n = 4), worry (n = 2), mental fatigue (n = 1), and undefined psychological distress (n = 2). Except for six studies designed as a longitudinal study, the rest of studies used a cross-sectional design. Twelve studies used both subjective and objective measures to assess cognitive function. We found that the patients with high psychological distress displayed lower performance on cognitive function tests. Our finding indicates that psychological variables contributed to CRCI that breast cancer patients experienced. Areas for further investigation are proposed that will advance the care of breast cancer patients with CRCI.