Assessing the symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder among college/university students: An international validation study of a self-report

The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of a self-report scale for assessing Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) symptoms according to the DSM-5 and ICD-11 among 3270 college/university students (2095 [64.1%] females; age mean 21.6 [3.1] years) from different countries worldwide. Croatian, English, Polish, Portuguese, Serbian, Turkish, and Vietnamese versions of the scale were tested. The study showed that symptoms of IGD could be measured as a single underlying factor among college/university students. A nine item-symptom scale following DSM-5, and a short four-item scale representing the main ICD-11 symptoms, had sound internal consistency and construct validity. Three symptom-items were found non-invariant across the language samples (i.e., preoccupation with on-line gaming, loss of interests in previous hobbies and entertainment, and the use of gaming to relieve negative moods). This study provides initial evidence for assessing IGD symptoms among college/university students and will hopefully foster further research into gaming addiction in this population worldwide especially with taking into account language/cultural differences

Distinguishing prodromal stage of bipolar disorder and early onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders during adolescence

WOS: 000469156400045PubMed ID: 30953877Prodromal symptoms of bipolar disorder (BD) and early onset schizophrenia spectrum disorder (EOSSD) overlap. To date, there has been no study directly comparing the prodromal stage of both disorders. Thus, the current study is aimed at determining which prodromal symptom clusters differentiate BD and EOSSD. One hundred twenty one adolescents (33 BD-1, 30 EOSSD, 58 healthy controls) were evaluated for the presence of 79 prodromal symptoms, divided into 7 prodromal symptom clusters. Great than 2 subsyndromal manic symptoms and ADHD comorbidity were significantly more specific for BD than schizophrenia; brief limited intermittent psychotic symptoms (BLIPS) were more likely to be part of EOSSD. In contrast, attenuated psychotic symptoms, and negative symptoms were not specifically related to the diagnosis of EOSSD. In conclusion, subsyndromal manic symptoms, BLIPS, and ADHD might be useful for predicting the trajectory of an emerging affective disorder versus schizophrenia and thus valuable for early detection, and intervention strategies

Cross-cultural analysis of the stigmatising attitudes of psychiatrists across Europe and measurement invariance of the Opening Minds Stigma Scale for healthcare providers

INTRODUCTION: Since the literature investigating the stigmatising attitudes of psychiatrists is scarce, this is the first study which examines the phenomena across Europe. The Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC) is a widely used questionnaire to measure stigma in healthcare providers towards people with mental illness, although it has not been validated in many European countries. OBJECTIVES: A cross-sectional, observational, multi-centre study was conducted in 32 European countries to investigate the attitudes towards patients among specialists and trainees in general adult and child psychiatry. In order to be able to compare stigma scores across cultures, we aimed to calculate measurement invariance. METHODS: An internet-based, anonymous survey was distributed in the participating countries, which was completed by n=4245 psychiatrists. The factor structure of the scale was investigated by using separate confirmatory factor analyses for each country. The cross-cultural validation was based on multigroup confirmatory factor analyses. RESULTS: When country data were analysed separately, the three dimensions of the OMS-HC were confirmed, and the bifactor model showed the best model fit. However, in some countries, a few items were found to be weak. The attitudes towards patients seemed favourable since stigma scores were less than half of the reachable maximum. Results allowed comparison to be made between stigma scores in different countries and subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: This international cooperation has led to the cross-cultural validation of the OMS-HC on a large sample of practicing psychiatrists. The results will be useful in the evaluation of future anti-stigma interventions and will contribute to the knowledge of stigma. DISCLOSURE: No significant relationships

European study on the attitude of psychiatrists towards their patients

INTRODUCTION: Many people think that people with mental disorders might be dangerous or unpredictable. These patients face various sources of disadvantages and experience discrimination in job interviews, in education, and housing. Mental health-related stigma occurs not only within the public community, it is a growing issue among professionals as well. Our study is the first that investigates the stigmatising attitude of psychiatrists across Europe. OBJECTIVES: We designed a cross-sectional, observational, multi-centre, international study of 33 European countries to investigate the attitude towards patients among medical specialists and trainees in the field of general adult and child and adolescent psychiatry. METHODS: An internet-based, anonymous survey will measure the stigmatising attitude by using the local version of the Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers. Data gathering started in July this year and will continue until December 2020. RESULTS: This study will be the first to describe the stigmatising attitude of psychiatric practitioners across Europe from their perspectives. CONCLUSIONS: The study will contribute to knowledge of gaps in stigmatising attitude towards people with mental health problems and will provide with new directions in anti-stigma interventions. DISCLOSURE: No significant relationships