The Greek-Orthodox version of the Brief Religious Coping (B-RCOPE) instrument: psychometric properties in three samples and associations with mental disorders, suicidality, illness perceptions, and quality of life

Background: The B-RCOPE is a brief measure assessing religious coping. We aimed to assess the psychometric properties of its Greek version in people with and without long-term conditions (LTCs). Associations between religious coping and mental illness, suicidality, illness perceptions, and quality of life were also investigated. Methods: The B-RCOPE was administered to 351 patients with diabetes, chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD), and rheumatic diseases attending either the emergency department (N = 74) or specialty clinics (N = 302) and 127 people without LTCs. Diagnosis of mental disorders was established by the MINI. Associations with depressive symptom severity (PHQ-9), suicidal risk (RASS), illness perceptions (B-IPQ), and health-related quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) were also investigated. Results: The Greek version of B-RCOPE showed a coherent two-dimensional factor structure with remarkable stability across the three samples corresponding to the positive (PRC) and negative (NRC) religious coping dimensions. Cronbach’s alphas were 0.91–0.96 and 0.77–0.92 for the PRC and NRC dimensions, respectively. Furthermore, NRC was associated with poorer mental health, greater depressive symptom severity and suicidality, and impaired HRQoL. In patients with LTCs, PRC correlated with lower perceived illness timeline, while NRC was associated with greater perceived illness consequences, lower perceived treatment control, greater illness concern, and lower illness comprehensibility. Conclusions: These findings indicate that the Greek-Orthodox B-RCOPE version may reliably assess religious coping. In addition, negative religious coping (i.e., religious struggle) is associated with adverse illness perceptions, and thus may detrimentally impact adaptation to medical illness. These findings deserve replication in prospective studies

Prospective evAluatIon foR inhalation devices in Greek patients with COPD and asthma: The PAIR study

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma remain a major health burden. Adherence to inhaled therapy is critical in order to optimize treatment effectiveness. Properly designed questionnaires can assess patients’ satisfaction with their inhaler devices. Patients and methods: A total of 766 patients with COPD, asthma or Asthma-COPD Overlap (ACO) were initially enrolled. During their first visit, patients were classified into three groups (Diskus™, Elpenhaler®, Turbuhaler®). Patients completed the FSI-10 questionnaire on Day 0 and Day 60. Test-retest reliability was evaluated. Results: A total of 705 patients completed the study. FSI-10 questionnaire had good test-retest reliability (Total Intraclass Correlation Coefficient: 0.86). All dry powder inhaler (DPIs) yielded satisfactory results. Median score of FSI-10 questionnaire in first visit (FSI-10-I) was significantly higher for patients receiving Elpenhaler® (45, 95% CI: 44 to 46) than patients receiving Diskus™ (42, 95% CI: 41 to 43) and Turbuhaler® (42, 95% CI: 41 to 43) (p < 0.001). Accordingly, median score of FSI-10 questionnaire in the final visit (FSI-10-II) was significantly higher for patients receiving Elpenhaler® (46, 95% CI: 45 to 47) than patients receiving Diskus™ (42, 95% CI: 41 to 43) and Turbuhaler® (43, 95% CI: 42 to 44) (p < 0.001). Conclusion: FSI-10 questionnaire had good test-retest reliability and thus can be used in the follow-up of patients with COPD, asthma and ACO. All DPIs were highly acceptable among all study groups. Elpenhaler® achieved significantly higher ratings than Diskus™ and Turbuhaler® in FSI-10 score and presented higher preference among patients with obstructive lung diseases. © 201