scholarly journals Psychological Distress Among a Tunisian Community Sample During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Correlations with Religious Coping

Author(s):  
Feten Fekih-Romdhane ◽  
Majda Cheour
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoj Kumar Sharma ◽  
David John Hallford ◽  
Nitin Anand

Background: The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS) is a widely used measure of negative emotional states. While the DASS is increasingly used in mental health research in India, to date no study has examined the factor structure among Indian adults. Methods: A large community sample of English-speaking Indian adults completed the DASS 21-item version, and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. Results: The results indicated a good fit for a three factor (depression, anxiety, and stress) and a one-factor model (general psychological distress). There was no substantial difference between the fit of the models, and the DASS subscales were very strongly correlated with one another (r ≥ .80). Conclusion: The findings from this sample suggest that the DASS-21 items appear to assess general psychological distress, with little evidence that the items assess three distinct subscales.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Navjot Bhullar ◽  
Rebecca L. Sanford ◽  
Myfanwy Maple

The Continuum of Survivorship proposes a way in which individuals may experience the suicide death of someone known to them along a continuum from being exposed to the death through to long-term bereavement. The present study provides a first empirical testing of the proposed model in an Australian community sample exposed to suicide. Using a Latent Profile Analysis, we tested the suicide exposure risk factors (time since death, frequency of pre-death contact, reported closeness, and perceived impact) to map to the Continuum of Survivorship model. Results revealed identification of five profiles, with four ranging from suicide exposed to suicide bereaved long-term broadly aligning with the proposed model, with one further profile being identified that represented a discordant profile of low closeness and high impact of suicide exposure. Our findings demonstrate that while the proposed model is useful to better understand the psychological distress related to exposure to suicide, it cannot be used as “shorthand” for identifying those who will be most distressed, nor those who may most likely need additional support following a suicide death. Implications and future research directions are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. de Vos ◽  
S. Patten ◽  
E. C. Wit ◽  
E. H. Bos ◽  
K. J. Wardenaar ◽  
...  

Abstract Aims The mechanisms underlying both depressive and anxiety disorders remain poorly understood. One of the reasons for this is the lack of a valid, evidence-based system to classify persons into specific subtypes based on their depressive and/or anxiety symptomatology. In order to do this without a priori assumptions, non-parametric statistical methods seem the optimal choice. Moreover, to define subtypes according to their symptom profiles and inter-relations between symptoms, network models may be very useful. This study aimed to evaluate the potential usefulness of this approach. Methods A large community sample from the Canadian general population (N = 254 443) was divided into data-driven clusters using non-parametric k-means clustering. Participants were clustered according to their (co)variation around the grand mean on each item of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Next, to evaluate cluster differences, semi-parametric network models were fitted in each cluster and node centrality indices and network density measures were compared. Results A five-cluster model was obtained from the cluster analyses. Network density varied across clusters, and was highest for the cluster of people with the lowest K10 severity ratings. In three cluster networks, depressive symptoms (e.g. feeling depressed, restless, hopeless) had the highest centrality. In the remaining two clusters, symptom networks were characterised by a higher prominence of somatic symptoms (e.g. restlessness, nervousness). Conclusion Finding data-driven subtypes based on psychological distress using non-parametric methods can be a fruitful approach, yielding clusters of persons that differ in illness severity as well as in the structure and strengths of inter-symptom relationships.


2009 ◽  
Vol 54 (8) ◽  
pp. 526-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norbert Schmitz ◽  
Alain Lesage ◽  
JianLi Wang

Objective: Psychological distress questionnaires are often used as screening instruments for mental disorders in clinical and epidemiologic settings. Poor physical health may affect the screening properties of a questionnaire. We evaluate the effect of self-perceived health status on the screening performance of the Kessler K10 and K6 scales in a community sample. Methods: We used data from the Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health and Well-Being (CCHS 1.2). Psychological distress was measured by the 6–item (K6) and the 10–item (K10) Kessler instrument. Depression and anxiety disorders were assessed using the World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview (1–month estimates). Optimal cut-off points regarding health status were determined by finding the K6 and K10 values that allowed for the best balance between sensitivity and specificity. Stratum-specific likelihood ratios (SSLRs) were computed to define strata with discriminating power. Results: There was a strong association between the screening performance of the K6 and K10 scales and self-perceived health status: for the K10 scale, a cut-off point of 5/6 yielded the best balance between sensitivity and specificity for subjects with excellent or very good health status, while a cut-off point of 14/15 yielded the best balance between sensitivity and specificity for subjects with poor health status. Conclusions: The combination of the K6 and K10 scales, with a self-rated health status item, may improve screening properties of the 2 scales.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-Feng Liu ◽  
Wen-Peng Xie ◽  
Wen-Hao Lin ◽  
Hua Cao ◽  
Qiang Chen

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether positive and negative religious coping methods were associated with psychological distress and quality of life in parents of infants with congenital heart disease (CHD).Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at a provincial hospital in Fujian, China. Clinical data from 115 parents of infants with CHD were collected. Chinese Sociodemographic Forms, Brief RCOPE, Beck Depression Interview (BDI), and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) were used in this study.Results: The sex of caregivers in infants with CHD was an independent predictor of BDI scores. The positive religious coping score and the negative religious coping score were both independent predictors of the BDI score (β = −5.365, P = 0.006 and β = 4.812, p = 0.017). The correlation between the quality-of-life scores and positive or negative religious coping scores indicated that positive religious coping scores were significantly positively correlated with Vitality, Social Functioning, and Mental Health scores. There was a significant negative correlation between negative religious coping scores and mental health scores.Conclusions: Positive or negative religious coping methods may be associated with psychological distress and quality of life among parents of infants with CHD. It is suggested that more attention should be devoted to the influence of religious coping methods on parents of infants with CHD, and the use of religious resources should be encouraged.


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