Psychometric Scales Research Articles

The importance of theory at the Information Systems Journal

The importance of theory at the <i>Information Systems Journal</i>

NURSE AND PATIENT PERCEPTION IN SELF-MONITORING OF DAWN EFFECT TO ENHANCE SELF-MANAGEMENT IN DIABETES MELLITUS PATIENT’S: A QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY

Background: A phenomenon in diabetes mellitus patients is called dawn effect, the condition of hyperglycemia suddenly increasing insulin requirement in the morning caused by nonattendance of nighttime hypoglycemia. Self-monitoring can be minimizing the impacts of dawn effect. Self-management can be actualized to oversee the blood glucose levels fluctuation in diabetes mellitus patients. Objective: to gain self-monitoring influencing factors of dawn effect phenomenon, and increase self-management in diabetic patient and nurse knowledge in Temanggung, Central Java Methods: A qualitative study design was used in this research with semi-structured interviews and open-ended questions. Participants were selected using purposive sampling technique from primary healthcare and secondary healthcare of both nurse and patient. Twelve participants consisted of senior nurse (n=5), patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (n=7). Information of psychometric diabetes self-management scale and blood glucose monitoring were day by day collected within the morning. Result: Nurses' perception of the dawn effect is still relatively low due to a lack of knowledge and competence in self-management of diabetes patients. They followed the doctor's advice. In addition, the patient's perspective of blood glucose monitoring was taken into account, despite the fact that they did not have a glucometer from a mobile device (lack of self-management and dawn effect). Furthermore, all participants (n=7) increase in blood glucose level in the morning. Invasive glucometer has a high accuracy, but inducing finger discomfort, uncomfortable, and increase risk of infection when it checked daily. Conclusion: Perceptions of nurse and patient about self-monitoring can improve patient self-management and prevent the occurrence of dawn effects.

The practical utility of psychometric scales for the assessment of the impact of posttraumatic scars on mental health.

Scars are a natural consequence of the healing process, but with an impact on the psychological and social level for the individual, which can even lead to withdrawal and social stigmatization. We aimed to analyze the psychosocial impact determined by post-traumatic scars, using psychometric scales, to assess the effectiveness of the Mekereș' Psychosocial Internalization Scale (MPIS), and to identify relevant predictors of traumatic and surgical scar internalization. Our cohort included 293 participants, 149 women and 144 men, aged 18-64 years who were screened for scar characteristics and completed a set of psychological scales. We compared the results obtained in two subgroups: 153 subjects with posttraumatic scars and 140 with surgical scars. Relevant predictors for posttraumatic scar internalization (R 2 = 0.721) are adaptation time, age of the occurrence and subjective appraisal, while for the depression, and hopelessness relevant predictors are the subjective appraisal of the scars and the posttraumatic quality of life. The psychological and social reporting of the aftermath of trauma, that has been followed by scar-ring, is an indicator of how a person will react and could indicate the susceptibility to psycho-pathology.

An investigation of social justice: the values, attitudes, and behaviour of newly qualified South African social workers

ABSTRACT Social work in South Africa is currently engaged in a transformational process to adapt its developmental approach based on the pursuit of social justice. Research has indicated that the values, attitudes, and behaviours of newly qualified social workers is a major determining factor in their pursuit of social justice. Consequently, the study reported here aimed to investigate the above-mentioned as pertaining to the achievement of social justice within client systems. The study, which was of a quantitative, cross-sectional nature, collected responses to a standardised psychometric scale from 108 newly qualified social workers, measuring their values, attitudes, and behaviours regarding social justice. The results reveal that South African-based social workers feel impeded in the work for social justice by inadequate training, skill set, and other obstacles, despite being committed to social justice.

Decision biases and environmental attitudes among conservation professionals

AbstractThe importance of human behavior in biodiversity conservation is widely recognized, but there is little published evidence about how conservation professionals make decisions when conservation values are at stake. We take a behavioral economics approach, administering simplified decision problems (“choice experiments”), questions about choice‐relevant preferences and views (“elicitation questions”), and a psychometric scale (the New Ecological Paradigm scale) to a difficult‐to‐recruit sample (n = 100) of Canadian professionals involved in managing Rangifer tarandus caribou (Woodland Caribou). Our choice experiments reveal the importance of several decision biases (risk aversion, commission bias, and a bias towards fairness) in this influential group of conservation stakeholders. We then examine in‐sample differences between categories of professional affiliation (e.g., resource industry, environmental nongovernmental organization, or federal/provincial government), finding significant variation in responses to one elicitation question (reference points) and in psychometric scores. We discuss the implications of our findings for choice in conservation practice and for multistakeholder conservation policy. Comparing our findings to prior work on choice under uncertainty in nonconservation contexts suggests a possible replication problem in applying behavioral science insights to conservation problems, pointing to the need for a systematic research program. Results from development testing with a convenience sample of university students are presented for comparison throughout the study.

Social Media Addiction Scale validation in a Portuguese sample

This study aims to validate a scale to measure addiction to social media (SMAS) for the Portuguese population (SMAS-PV). The original 14 items’ SMAS was translated and back-translated from English to Portuguese. Psychometric scale validation procedures were followed. SMAS-PV’s properties were assessed in a sample of 605 Portuguese university and high-school students. A Parallel Analysis was carried out as a criterion for extracting factors in Exploratory Factorial Analysis (EFA), EFA for ordinal data, with unweighted least squares (ULS). This was followed by confirmatory factor analysis to examine whether the structure pattern fitted the Portuguese context. The resulting scale, with eight items in a two-component structure, compulsive feelings, and social consequences, demonstrated high reliability and validity. The Portuguese version of the social media addiction scale presented good psychometric qualities, constituting a credible instrument for assessing social media addiction. Participants with the highest addiction levels spend more time connected to social media.

Beyond the Mean: Can We Improve the Predictive Power of Psychometric Scales?

Two participants completing a psychometric scale may leave wildly different responses yet attain the same mean score. Moreover, the mean score often does not represent the bulk of participants’ responses, which may be skewed, kurtotic, or bimodal. Even so, researchers in psychological science often aggregate item scores using an unweighted mean or a sum score, thereby neglecting a substantial amount of information. In the present contribution, we explore whether other summary statistics of a scale (e.g., the standard deviation, the median, or the kurtosis) can capture and leverage some of this neglected information to improve prediction of a broad range of outcome measures: life satisfaction, mental health, self-esteem, counterproductive work behavior, and social value orientation. Overall, across 32 psychometric scales and three data sets (total N = 8,376), we show that the mean is the strongest predictor of all five outcomes considered, with little to no additional variance explained by other summary statistics. These results provide justification for the current practice of relying on the mean score but hopefully inspire future research to explore the predictive power of other summary statistics for relevant outcomes. For this purpose, we provide a tutorial and example code for R.

Gender impact on the outcome of rehabilitation programs in psychiatry: Brief report from a metropolitan residential rehabilitative service.

Differences based on gender in the presentation and outcome of many psychiatric conditions have been highlighted in the past years. Moreover, women are often underrepresented in research samples, thus leading to a poorer understanding and addressing of their needs. As regards psychiatric rehabilitation, few studies have focused on the influence of gender on the outcomes of rehabilitation programs. This study aimed to analyze the impact of gender on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as on main rehabilitation outcomes, in a sample of subjects undergoing rehabilitation programs in a metropolitan residential service. We collected socio-demographic, clinical variables and rehabilitation outcomes of all subjects discharged from the metropolitan residential rehabilitative service of the Luigi Sacco Hospital in Milan, Italy, from January 2015 to December 2021. Gender differences were analyzed through t-test and chi-square for continuous and categorical variables, respectively. In a total sample of 129 subjects equally distributed for gender (50.4% women), all subjects improved after their rehabilitation program, as measured through specific psychometric scales. However, women had a higher proportion of discharges to their own household (52.3% vs. 25% of men). They also showed higher educational status (53.8% completed high school vs. 31.3% of men). Clinically, they showed longer duration of untreated illness (3.6 ± 7.31 vs. 1.06 ± 2.35 years) and lower frequency of substance use disorders compared to men (6.4% vs. 35.9%). The main result of this study shows, in light of an equal improvement in psychopathological and psychosocial functioning after the rehabilitation program, better outcomes in women compared to men, with a higher frequency of return to their own household after the completion of a rehabilitation program compared to men.

The Contribution of Environmental Science to Mental Health Research: A Scoping Review.

Mental health is influenced by multiple complex and interacting genetic, psychological, social, and environmental factors. As such, developing state-of-the-art mental health knowledge requires collaboration across academic disciplines, including environmental science. To assess the current contribution of environmental science to this field, a scoping review of the literature on environmental influences on mental health (including conditions of cognitive development and decline) was conducted. The review protocol was developed in consultation with experts working across mental health and environmental science. The scoping review included 202 English-language papers, published between 2010 and 2020 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), on environmental themes that had not already been the subject of recent systematic reviews; 26 reviews on climate change, flooding, air pollution, and urban green space were additionally considered. Studies largely focused on populations in the USA, China, or Europe and involved limited environmental science input. Environmental science research methods are primarily focused on quantitative approaches utilising secondary datasets or field data. Mental health measurement was dominated by the use of self-report psychometric scales. Measures of environmental states or exposures were often lacking in specificity (e.g., limited to the presence or absence of an environmental state). Based on the scoping review findings and our synthesis of the recent reviews, a research agenda for environmental science's future contribution to mental health scholarship is set out. This includes recommendations to expand the geographical scope and broaden the representation of different environmental science areas, improve measurement of environmental exposure, prioritise experimental and longitudinal research designs, and giving greater consideration to variation between and within communities and the mediating pathways by which environment influences mental health. There is also considerable opportunity to increase interdisciplinarity within the field via the integration of conceptual models, the inclusion of mixed methods and qualitative approaches, as well as further consideration of the socio-political context and the environmental states that can help support good mental health. The findings were used to propose a conceptual model to parse contributions and connections between environmental science and mental health to inform future studies.

Dikkat Eksikliği Hiperaktivite Bozukluğu Belirtileri ve Uyku Vaktini Erteleme Arasındaki İlişki

Background/Aims: We aimed to examine the relationship between attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and bedtime procrastination.&#x0D; Materials and Methods: Five hundred fifty-three university students participated in our study. All participants, in turn, answered the sociodemographic data form, The Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS v1.1), Bedtime Procrastination Scale (BPS), Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS), and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). All participants were divided into two groups, probable ADHD and non-ADHD, according to the ASRS score. We compared sociodemographic data, sleep routines, and psychometric scales between these two groups. Finally, we analyzed the factors that could predict bedtime procrastination by hierarchical regression analysis.&#x0D; Results: The mean age of the participants was 20.55 ± 2.17. Most participants were female and unmarried (69.6% and 98.2%, respectively). BPS, ISI, and ASRS scores were significantly higher in the ADHD group than in the non-ADHD group (p &lt; 0.01). BSCS score was significantly lower in the ADHD group than in the non-ADHD group (p &lt; 0.01). Sleep duration was significantly lower in the ADHD group than in the non-ADHD group (p &lt; 0.01). The correlation coefficients between ASRS and ISI, BPS, and BSCS were 0.461, 0.268, and -0.442, respectively (p &lt; 0.01). Self-control and ADHD symptoms separately predicted bedtime procrastination with approximately the same variance (%4 vs. %3.9).&#x0D; Conclusions: Clinicians should evaluate bedtime procrastination in individuals with adult ADHD by clinical interview or BPS. Individuals with adult ADHD with bedtime procrastination should be assisted with cognitive behavioral therapy-insomnia and sleep hygiene.

The importance and the effectiveness of cultural ecosystem services provided by parks in the city of Kyiv during the war in Ukraine

In Ukraine, during the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, rapid economic and social changes took place, the war caused a massive reduction and destruction of cities, and the environmental situation worsened due to which the cultural services of the ecosystem decreased. Such changes provide an opportunity for the remaining cities to improve the quality of the environment through urban green spaces and solve the problem of meeting the aspirations of the community. The purpose of the study was to identify the importance and effectiveness of eight cultural ecosystem services during the war for park visitors in Kyiv. The following methods were used in the study: field survey (route), analytical, systematisation, sociological, socio-psychological, statistical. The Likert psychometric scale was used to survey visitors of two parks in Kyiv to identify the importance and effectiveness of eight cultural ecosystem services provided by parks. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. It was established that during the war, the visitors of the parks “Yunist” and “Sovky” noted the importance and effectiveness of such cultural ecosystem services as recreation, aesthetics, and nature awareness. It is determined that young people aged 16-30 and 51-60 are most in need of such services, and social relations in both Yunist and Sovky parks for all age categories are located in the reserve zone of service supply. The proven that effectiveness and importance of such services as cultural heritage and spiritual enrichment are the lowest for all age categories. Almost half of the visitors in the two parks provided suggestions for improving the quality of the environment, the greatest need was to increase the number of plantings and improve the improvement of territory, in the park “Sovky” respondents stated the need cultural heritage. It was established that the quality of plantings and the location of parks affected the overall satisfaction of visitors. Respondents’ satisfaction with the cultural ecosystem services of Sovky park is higher than that of Yunist park. The results of the studies can be used to improve the quality of cultural ecosystem services in the Sovky and Yunist parks

Sex Differences in Sexual Satisfaction and Psychological Symptoms in Young Adult Pornography Users

Research indicates that men and women have different preferences and patterns of sexual behavior and the use of pornographic content. It is commonly found that men use porn more frequently. A recent study found sex differences in motivations behind porn use. Authors speculated that different motivations might lead to different outcomes. The presented study aimed to compare sex differences in the associations between pornography use, sexual satisfaction, and occurrence of psychological symptoms between high and low pornography users sampled from the general population. A sample of 179 participants between the ages of 18 to 37 completed the questionnaire containing questions about demographic data, manner, and frequency of porn use and two psychometric scales: the General Functioning Scale GFQ-58 (assessing broad psychological symptoms) and the Sexual Satisfaction Scale SSC. In general, females in the study obtained higher scores on the General Functioning Scale, presenting more psychological symptoms. Still, when considering the frequency and manner of porn use, it is men in which increased porn use was found to be associated with psychological symptoms. Presented data provide evidence that men and women might have different motivations, leading to varying outcomes of porn use. This further supports the hypothesis that it is not porn that is inherently harmful, but rather why and how you use it.

Suicidality Prevalence in a Pediatric Psychiatric Clinic: Relation to Social and Environmental Risk Factors.

Suicidality is a growing public health problem in children and adolescents. The aim of this retrospective data analysis study was to estimate the prevalence of suicidality in pediatric patients admitted to an academic Pediatric Psychiatric Clinic (PPC) and to analyze social and environmental risk factors associated with suicide. Suicidal ideation was assessed by the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview. Using established psychometric scales, social and stressful events were analyzed. During the four-year study, 249 episodes of care were experienced by 152 individuals (mean age 15.2 ± 2 years, girls/boys 107/45). Twenty-eight patients (11.2%) were admitted from the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and the Department of Pediatrics, 162 (65.1%) from the Pediatric Emergency Department, and 59 (23.7%) from other Hospitals (p = 0.003). A significant longitudinal increase in admissions to PPC, with increasing trends of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicidality, was recorded. Suicidal behavior, bullying, internet addiction, friends quarreling, and family problems were risk factors for suicide attempts and suicidality. Our results have implications for prevention programs, highlighting an increasing need for care for suicide attempts and suicidal ideation, related to specific stressful events and contextual socio-environmental status.

The Importance of Psychometric and Physical Scales for the Evaluation of the Consequences of Scars-A Literature Review.

Scars affect patients after trauma, burns, or surgical procedures and can generate both physical and psychosocial changes. The aesthetic damage represents the modification of a person's physical appearance, in its bodily integrity, causing numerous sufferings and determining social or economic consequences. The aim of this research is to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages offered by the available psychosocial and physical scar scales in assessing the physical, aesthetic, psychosocial, and juridical consequences of scars. This will aid to inform medical examiners about the most valued existing scales to allow them to select the most appropriate instrument to manage their patient. A broad search of relevant scientific studies on the psychosocial determinants of post-traumatic and surgical scars was conducted by using the following international database tools: PsycINFO, MedLine Social Science Index, Scopus, Web of Science, published from 1960 until 2022. We analyzed 63 scientific studies to assess the advantages and limits of several psychometric and physical scar evaluation scales. The researchers analyzed in this review highlight the advantages and limitation of existing instruments, evidencing the demand for future scar evaluation instruments and a scar-assessing algorithm that takes into account the physical, aesthetic, psychosocial, and legal consequences of scars.

Anxiety in pregnancy and stress responsiveness: An exploratory study of heart rate variability, cortisol, and alpha-amylase in the third trimester.

The present study aimed to explore the association between anxiety symptoms, including sleep, and physiological stress responsiveness in pregnant women with and without anxiety, as identified by psychiatric diagnosis. Fifty-four pregnant women with (n=25) and without (n=29) anxiety completed a laboratory cognitive stressor (the Stroop Color-Word Task) during the third trimester. Heart rate variability (HRV) (as the root mean square of successive differences, RMSSD) was recorded during baseline, stressor, and recovery periods. Salivary cortisol (sCORT) and alpha amylase (sAA) were measured at four timepoints surrounding the stressor task. Psychometric scales (Penn State Worry Questionnaire [PSWQ], Perceived Stress Scale [PSS], Spielberg Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale [STAI], and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]) were collected. Women in the anxiety group exhibited significantly less rebound in HRV (RMSSD, change of 4-ms difference, p=.025) from baseline to recovery following the Stroop than did those in the non-anxiety group. Neither neuroendocrine measure (sCORT, sAA) differed between groups at any measurement period. Across the recording period, lower reported sleep quality (PSQI, p=.0092) and higher subjective stress (PSS, p=.039) were associated with lower RMSSD. The findings suggest that women with and without anxiety in late pregnancy display differences in the degree of autonomic rebound as indicated by HRV following a stressor. In addition, levels of HRV over time were associated with subjective perceptions of increased stress and poor sleep. PREGNANCY AND ANXIOUS: The Role of the Immune and Endocrine Systems (NCT03664128).

Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Condition-Specific Malocclusion Impact Questionnaire for the Malayalam-speaking Population—A Psychometric Scale Validation Study

ObjectivesThe study aimed to develop a regional version of the Malocclusion Impact Questionnaire (MIQ-Malayalam) for the Malayalam-speaking Indian population.MethodsThe English version of MIQ was translated into Malayalam through a rigorous translation process, followed by cross-cultural adaptation. Young people aged below 18 years who were just about to start orthodontic treatment were invited to complete the Malayalam version of MIQ along with the available native version of the Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ). The MIQ-Malayalam was readministered after 14 days to assess test-retest reliability. Treatment need was assessed normatively using the Dental Health Component of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN-DHC) and subjectively using Aesthetic Component of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN-AC).ResultsA total of 210 subjects completed the questionnaires (males = 47.2%; females = 52.8%; age = 12-17 years, mean = 15 years and 3 months; standard deviation = 1.9) and 50 completed repeat questionnaires. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were high (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.952; Intra-class Correlation Coefficient = 0.93). Exploratory factor analysis derived 4 factors with exclusion of 1 item. There were significant differences ( P &lt; .05) in MIQ scores between IOTN-DHC subgroups, ensuring discriminant validity. There was a high correlation between total MIQ and total PIDAQ scores (rho = 0.884), while low between total MIQ and IOTN-AC scores (rho = 0.203).ConclusionThe Malayalam version of MIQ was found to be valid and reliable and can serve as a useful condition-specific measure of oral health-related quality of life.

Body modifications in borderline personality disorder patients: prevalence rates, link with non-suicidal self-injury, and related psychopathology

BackgroundBorderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a potentially severe personality disorder, characterized by difficulties in emotion regulation and control of behaviors. It is often associated with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Borderline personality features have also been linked to body modifications (BMs). However, the prevalence of BMs, the link between BMs and NSSI, and between BMs and several psychopathology dimensions (e.g. borderline severity, emotion regulation, impulsivity …) remains understudied in patients with BPD. This study aims to fill this gap, and to provide further evidence on the link between NSSI and BMs.MethodsWe used data from a psychiatric outpatient center located in Switzerland (n = 116), specialized in the assessment and treatment of BPD patients. Patients underwent several semi-structured interviews and self-report psychometric scales at the arrival, and the data were retrospectively analyzed.ResultsWe found that 70.69% of the patients had one piercing or more, and 69.83% were tattooed. The total score of body modifications and the total number of piercings score of piercings were significantly positively associated with NSSI and the SCID BPD total score. The association with the SCID score was mainly driven by the “suicide and self-damaging behaviors” item and the “chronic feeling of emptiness” item. A significant association was found between total number of piercings and emotion dysregulation. On the other hand, the self-reported percentage of body covered by tattoos score was specifically associated with the sensation seeking subscale of the UPPS-P.ConclusionThis study provides evidence on the prevalence of BMs in BPD patients, and on the link between BMs and NSSI in this population, suggesting a role of emotion regulation in the link between both constructs. These results also suggests that tattoos and piercings may be differentially linked to specific underlying psychological mechanisms. This calls for further considerations of body modifications in the assessment and care of BPD patients.

Open-label: the clinical effects of adding cannbidiol to usual care of patients with residual symptoms in the diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

IntroductionObsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a heterogeneous and debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder. First-line antidepressants with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) and Clomipramine (a tricyclic antidepressant) are unresponsive or partially responsive in 40% of treated patients. Preclinical studies have shown that cannabidiol (CBD) can reduce compulsive behavior in animals, and considering that the release of glutamate in the action of CBD can inhibit terminal axons of neurons in the corticostriatal-thalamo-cortical circuit, we chosefor testing CBD, a drug with few side effects and low toxicity, as an adjuvant in treating OCD.ObjectivesTo evaluate the clinical effects of CBD add-on to the usual pharmacological treatment of outpatients diagnosed with OCD.MethodsMethods: This is an open-label study in which patients received CBD 300mg-day for 30 days in addition to their usual treatments and CBD 600mg-day for an additional 30 days if they have not reduced at least 25% of symptoms compared to the baseline evaluated by the Yale-brown obsessive-compulsive scale (Y-BOCS). Psychometric scales were used to assess the effects of CBD: Y-BOCS, General Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7), Clinical Overall Impressions-Severity (CGI-S), Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement (CGI-I), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Udvalg Scale for Kliniske Undersogelser (UKU) scale.Participants: We initially assessed 33 participants in the study. So far, 19 patients have completed the study. Eleven did not complete the study, and 03 patients are still in the study trial.ResultsMean (SD) Y-BOCS scores decreased from 28.0 (4.8) at baseline to 13.8 (8.6) at week 8, corresponding to a - 50.7% reduction (P&lt;.0001). Anxiety symptoms (GAD-7 scale) (P=0.001) and CGI-Severity scales scores (P&lt;0.001) improved significantly.MeasureBaseline, Mean (SD)Week 4, Mean (SD)Week 8, Mean (SD)Mean Change (Baseline to Week 4)Mean Change (Baseline to Week 8)Mean (SD)p-valuet-testY-Bocks28.0 (4.8)17.8 (7.3)13.8 (8.6)10.1 (6.5)&lt;0,0017.114.1 (7.9)&lt;0,0017.7GAD-713.8 (4.4)8.14 (4.9)8.0 (5.7)5.7 (6.4)0,0014.05.6 (5.8)0,0014.1CGI-I5.48 (0.9)3.9 (1.3)3.3 (1.5)1.5 (1.3)&lt;0,0015.282.1 (1.2)&lt;0,0017.4an=22;bn=19Image:Image 2:Image 3:ConclusionsWe concluded that there was an important reduction in the psychometric scales used with statistical significance. This is a partial analysis of the results as the study progresses. We believe that in the future we will be able to complete this study and have a better analysis of the results that are promising. At the end of the study, other psychometric scales such as CGI-I, epworth scale and UKU will be analyzed.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Cognitive disorders in the elderly persons and their psychometric markers

IntroductionPopulation aging is accompanied by an increase in mental disorders of late age, cognitive impairment and dementia, which makes research on their diagnosis, prevention and therapy particularly relevant.ObjectivesIn order to improve the diagnosis of cognitive disorders in elderly patients, a comparative characteristic of the MMSE and MoCA psychometric scales is presented. Due to the lack of differentiation of results in the MoCA - test according to the severity of cognitive disorders, ranking was carried out to determine the scoring levels of cognitive decline.MethodsOn the clinical basis of the scientific department of gerontopsychiatry of the Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry - branch of the V. Serbsky National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology, 46 people over 60 years old were examined. The identified mental disorders were coded under the ICD-10 F00-F09 rubric “Organic, including symptomatic mental disorders”. Cognitive status assessment was carried out by psychometric scales MMSE and MoCA. Psychometric and statistical research methods were used. To compare MoCA and MMSE scores, an equal-percentage alignment method was usedResultsIn patients examined by MMSE and MoCA, different point values were determined in assessing cognitive functions. In most observations, the MoCA- test indicators were lower than the MMSE values. The following correspondences of the score values of the scales were revealed: MOCA 23-30 - MMSE 28-30 points; MOCA 22-18 - MMSE 27-25; MOCA 17-12 – MMSE 23-20; MOCA 12-0 – MMSE 19-0.ConclusionsSuch features of the MMSE scale as insufficient sensitivity in assessing memory impairment and differentiation of non-dementia levels of cognitive impairment, regulatory functions of programming and goal-setting, lexical fluency were revealed. The advantages of the MoCA - test were the ability to assess visual-constructive and executive skills, praxis, a more accurate assessment of memory impairments, mobility of mental processes and the ability to switch, logical thinking, the possibility of topical diagnosis of brain damage. The disadvantages of the MoCA - test were the duration of its implementation, the fatigue of patients, the lack of tasks for assessing written speech and motor praxis.The MoCA - test is a more sensitive method for detecting and differentiating cognitive impairment compared to the MMSE scale, which makes it possible to recommend it for widespread introduction into psychiatric practice. Relevant in further studies are the determination of indicators of moderate cognitive impairment as a threshold value between mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and incipient dementia, clarification of the point values of different levels of dementia.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Emotional stabilization interventions for people exposed to chronic traumatic events, in humanitarian settings

Introduction In contexts of chronic crisis, such as wars, the population is affected by prolonged traumatic exposure. In this type of context, it is sometimes difficult to provide psychological support to work through the trauma because the environment is neither stable nor reassuring. It is about finding care devices that despite the complexity of the situation, manage to bring relief and improve the ability to manage negative emotions and stress. Objectives The objective of the intervention was to relieve people in distress, to help them contain their reactions to moments of anxiety so that they are more available and calm in their daily lives. Since the intervention could not provide long-term treatment for the potential traumatic stress, due to the abuses still in progress, it aimed to prevent the appearance and installation of the symptoms. Methods A group protocol based on emotional stabilization exercises was offered to children and adults from communities affected by the fighting in the civil war in the Central African Republic in 2021. In addition to giving elements of psychoeducation, participants could practice exercises aimed at stabilizing emotions and managing stress. People could benefit from this psychosocial support with daily frequency for four consecutive days. At the beginning and at the end of the care device, psychometric scales were administered in order to be able to measure the improvement in well-being (WHO5) the reduction in symptoms of anxiety and depression (HAD) as well as traumatic symptoms in adults (PCL -5) and children (CPTS-RI). Results Between February and April 2021, 1,200 adults and 400 children were able to participate in the emotional stabilization device. 90% of the participants showed an improvement in well-being and a reduction in stress and axiety reactions. The participants particularly appreciated the exercises for the ease with which they could be reproduced in daily life and transmitted to other members of the family and the community. Despite the fact that exposure to stress remained significant and daily, they expressed the feeling of having regained some control, at least over their own emotions and reactions. Conclusions In situations of chronic stress, where psychic traumatic symptoms cannot be treated sustainably, this emotional stabilization protocol can be an effective option to regulate the emotional states of exposed people and give them tools to cope with anxiety. Two important points to emphasize are also the fact that this device can reach a large part of the population without a lot of means and that it can be provided by non-professionals in mental health, if properly trained and constantly supervised by experts. Disclosure of Interest None Declared