Dataset Information

Trauma-spectrum symptoms among the Italian general population in the time of the COVID-19 outbreak.

ABSTRACT: Background: Recent evidence showed adverse mental health outcomes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, including trauma-related symptoms. The Global Psychotrauma Screen (GPS) is a brief instrument designed to assess a broad range of trauma-related symptoms with no available validation in the Italian population. Aims: This study aimed to examine the factor structure of the Italian version of the GPS in a general population sample exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic and to evaluate trauma-related symptoms in the context of COVID-19 related risk factors associated with lockdown measures. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional web-based observational study as part of a long-term monitoring programme of mental health outcomes in the general population. Eighteen thousand one hundred forty-seven participants completed a self-report online questionnaire to collect key demographic data and evaluate trauma-related symptoms using the GPS, PHQ-9, GAD-7, ISI, and PSS. Validation analyses included both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and correlation analyses. The relation with putative COVID-19 related risk factors was explored by multivariate regression analysis. Results: Exploratory factor analyses supported a two-factor model. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the best fitting model was a three-factor solution, with core Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) (re-experiencing, avoidance, hyperarousal), Negative Affect (symptoms of depressed mood, anxiety, irritability), and Dissociative symptoms. GPS Risk factors and specific COVID-19 related stressful events were associated with GPS total and the three factor scores. Conclusions: Our data suggest that a wide range of trauma-spectrum symptoms were reported by a large Italian sample during the COVID-19 pandemic. The GPS symptoms clustered best in three factors: Negative Affect symptoms, Core PTSS, and Dissociative symptoms. In particular, high rates of core PTSS and negative affect symptoms were associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy and should be routinely assessed in clinical practice.

SUBMITTER: Rossi R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8725681 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:The outbreak of COVID-19 is severely affecting mental health worldwide, although individual response may vary. This study aims to investigate the psychological distress perceived by the Italian general population during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to analyze affective temperament and adult attachment styles as potential mediators. Through an online survey, we collected sociodemographic and lockdown-related information and evaluated distress, temperament, and attachment using the Kessler 10 Psychological Distress Scale (K10), the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego-Autoquestionnaire short version (TEMPS-A) and the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ). In our sample (n = 500), 62% of the individuals reported no likelihood of psychological distress, whereas 19.4% and 18.6% displayed mild and moderate-to-severe likelihood. Cyclothymic (OR: 1.24; p < 0.001), depressive (OR: 1.52; p < 0.001) and anxious (OR: 1.58; p = 0.002) temperaments, and the ASQ "Need for approval" (OR: 1.08; p = 0.01) were risk factors for moderate-to-severe psychological distress compared to no distress, while the ASQ "Confidence" (OR: 0.89; p = 0.002) and "Discomfort with closeness" were protective (OR: 0.92; p = 0.001). Cyclothymic (OR: 1.17; p = 0.008) and depressive (OR: 1.32; p = 0.003) temperaments resulted as risk factors in subjects with moderate-to-severe psychological distress compared to mild distress, while the ASQ "Confidence" (OR: 0.92; p = 0.039) and "Discomfort with closeness" (OR: 0.94; p = 0.023) were protective. Our data indicated that a relevant rate of individuals may have experienced psychological distress following the COVID-19 outbreak. Specific affective temperament and attachment features predict the extent of mental health burden. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first data available on the psychological impact of the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic on a sizeable sample of the Italian population. Moreover, our study is the first to investigate temperament and attachment characteristics in the psychological response to the ongoing pandemic. Our results provide further insight into developing targeted intervention strategies.

Project description:ObjectivesExamine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and loneliness in the general population. More specifically, the study focused on prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms, the extent to which individuals with existing symptoms recovered or not, the prevalence of subtypes of loneliness, and the extent to which loneliness before and during this pandemic was associated with anxiety and depression symptoms.MethodsData was extracted from the longitudinal LISS panel, based on a probability sample of the Dutch population, with assessments on loneliness in October 2019 (T1) and June 2020 (T4), and anxiety and depression symptoms in November 2019 (T2), March 2020 (T3) and June 2020 (T4; Ntotal = 4,084). Loneliness was examined with the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale and anxiety and depression symptoms with the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5).ResultsRepeated measures multivariate logistic regression analyses (RMMLRA) showed a statistical significant lower prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms after the outbreak (T4 = 15.3%) than before (T2 = 16.8%) and during the COVID-19 outbreak (T3 = 17.2%). According to the Reliable Change Index, the distribution of recovery categories (remission, improvement, unchanged and worsening symptoms) after the outbreak did not differ significantly from the distribution of these categories before the outbreak. RMMLRA revealed that the prevalence of emotional loneliness increased significantly after the outbreak (T1 = 18.4%, T4 = 24.8%). Among individuals who were not lonely before and after the outbreak the prevalence of symptoms decreased significantly (T2 = 7.0%, T4 = 4.4%) and, likewise, among those who were not lonely anymore after the outbreak (T2 = 21.5%, T4 = 14.5%). However, the prevalence of symptoms increased significantly among those who became lonely during the pandemic (T2 = 17.9%, T4 = 26.3%).ConclusionsFindings suggest that this pandemic did not negatively affect the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms nor the normal recovery of symptoms among the general population during the first four months, but that emotional loneliness increased.

Project description:Italy was the first western hotspot of the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to contain the spread of the virus, the Italian Government imposed home confinement to the entire population for almost two months. The present study is the first large-scale longitudinal report of the sleep and mental health changes during the prolonged lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We focused on the gendered vulnerability in a sample of the Italian population since cross-sectional research identified women to be more at-risk than men during this unprecedented situation. 2701 individuals (mean age?±?standard deviation, 32.37?±?11.62; range, 18-82) participated in a web-based longitudinal survey consisting of two measurements. Participants were first-time recruited on social networks and via telephone messages through a snowball sampling and tested during the third week of the lockdown period. Subsequently, a follow-up evaluation was carried out during the seventh week of lockdown. The survey assessed perceived stress, sleep quality, insomnia and depression symptoms, and anxiety, using the following questionnaires: the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Beck Depression Inventory-second edition, and the State-Anxiety Inventory. Women showed the worst condition for all the examined dimensions in both the assessments. Nevertheless, at the follow-up women reported a reduction in perceived stress, insomnia and depression severity symptoms, and anxiety. On the other hand, male participants showed a worsening of perceived stress, sleep quality, and insomnia symptoms. Consequently, the gender prevalence gap of clinical conditions such as insomnia and depression was largely reduced under lockdown. Our investigation pointed to a different time course of sleep and mental health between genders during the home confinement period. Women seemed to show greater long-term resilience during the lockdown. Meanwhile, the male gender emerges as the most vulnerable category to the extension of the restraining measures. Our results suggest that there is no "weaker gender" after a prolonged lockdown. Indeed, the Italian population transversely presented signs of psychological suffering and significant sleep disturbances after the protracted and stressful lockdown period due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dataset Information

Trauma-spectrum symptoms among the Italian general population in the time of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets