Abstract
Living with cystic fibrosis (CF) exposes patients to the risk of developing anxiety and depression, with therapeutic compliance reduction, hospitalization increase, and quality of life and health outcomes deterioration. As pulmonary infections represent the major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with CF, environmental contamination due to droplet dispersion and the potential transmission from environment to such patients should be prevented. Therefore, in-person contact, including group-based psychotherapy, are strongly discouraged. Nevertheless, group sharing of disease-related experiences represents a way to recover the inner resources essential for dealing with a chronic pathology. Keeping in mind the guidelines for infection control, the aim of this study is to evaluate the risk of the dissemination of microorganisms in a restricted environment where patients with CF attend group psychotherapy sessions. Five patients, selected according to their microbiological status, attended 32 group-based psychological/psychoanalytic meetings. Before each session, they were asked to observe the infection control recommendations. Microbiological environmental monitoring (MEM) has been performed to evaluate both air and surface contamination. As reported, a strict observation of standard precautions allows one to avoid environmental contamination by pathogens of the CF respiratory tract. Although infection control guidelines discourage group-based psychological/psychoanalytic interventions, our observations report the feasibility and safety of group psychotherapy when strict precautions are taken.
Highlights
The bacterial species recovered through Microbiological environmental monitoring (MEM) before and after the psychological inMEM Resultsare reported in Tables S1 and S2, respectively
First five were psychological interBased on their microbiological status,sampling five cystic fibrosis (CF) patients selected as the group participants
The aim of this study was to evaluate if subjects with CF, attending group-based psychotherapy/psychoanalytic sessions in a limited space, could contaminate the encounterhosting environment with bacteria harbored within their respiratory tract, representing a source of pathogen transmission
Summary
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic life-shortening genetic disease affecting several organs, primarily lung and pancreas, as well as entire systems, namely the reproductive and digestive. As a result of the remarkable improvements of the past decades (from new emphasis on early diagnosis to important new treatments, with an understanding of the CF clinical spectrum), CF is no longer solely a childhood disease [1]. CF have outnumbered pediatric patients, with a longer average life expectancy for patients born between 2012 and 2016, equal to 43 years in the United States and 53 in Canada [2]. Patients with CF have to undergo numerous and time-consuming daily treatments to reach a good life expectancy; a burden that, associated with a potentially declining
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
