2 research outputs found

    The burnout syndrome in palliative home care workers: the role of coping strategies and metacognitive beliefs

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    Healthcare professionals are daily confronted with events involving the suffering of others, which are likely to generate highly negative and stressful emotions. In palliative care the emotional commitment is exacerbated by the constant confrontation with the theme of suffering and death. The failure to successfully down-regulate negative emotions is a key risk factor for a severe form of discomfort, known as burnout syndrome. Burnout is a psychological state of exhaustion, related to stress at work. Maslach (1996) describes it as a psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Recent studies have shown that healthcare worker coping strategies may function either as a risk or aprotective factor for the development of distress and emotional problems. Furthermore, other studies highlighted the role of the dimensions of metacognition as vulnerability factors in predicting the development of psychological symptoms. The aim of this study is to examine and assess the relationships between burnout, coping strategies and metacognitive beliefs in workers involved in home palliative care. The hypothesis of the present work is that the appropriate use of positive and flexible coping strategies and functional metacognitive beliefs may relate to the management of distress and emotional problems. A group of operators working in a team of Integrated Home Palliative Care participated in the research.The study was based on a protocol including the Italian version of MCQ-30, used to assess a range of metacognitive beliefs and processes relevant to vulnerability and maintenance of emotional disorders; the Brief Cope (BC) to survey coping strategies; Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to measure burnout. The questionnaire includes a socio-demographical section. The results show the presence of a statistically significant correlation between the variables investigated

    Psychological distress, Self-Efficacy and Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetes

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    Aim \u2013 To investigate the association of glycemic control with depression, anxiety, self-efficacy and other diabetes-specific psychological measures in a cohort of adult patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) free of severe chronic diabetes-related complications. Methods \u2013 In 172 T2D outpatients consecutively recruited at the Diabetes Center of Verona City Hospital, we performed a standard medical assessment and completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Multidimensional Diabetes Questionnaire (MDQ). Results \u2013 Age, body mass index (BMI) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were (median [IQR]): 64.0 [58.0-69.0] years, 31.0 [28.0-34.4] kg/m\ub2, and 7.3 [6.7-8.0] %, respectively. The overall prevalence of anxiety and depression was 14.5% and 18.6%, respectively. Higher levels of HbA1c were significantly (p<0.001) associated with a number of MDQ dimensions, such as higher perceived interference with daily activities (Spearman\u2019s rho coefficient=0.33), higher perceived diabetes severity (rho=0.28) and lower self-efficacy (rho=-0.27), but not with depression or anxiety. These three variables were also independent predictors of higher HbA1c levels, when entered in a multivariable stepwise-forward regression model that also included age, BMI, diabetes duration and diabetes-specific social support as covariates. Conclusion \u2013 Lower self-efficacy and higher diabetes distress were closely associated with poorer glycemic control. No direct association between HbA1c and clinical psychological symptoms was detected. These results highlight that a number of diabetes-specific psychological variables may play a role amidst psychological distress and glycemic control. Further studies are needed to elucidate the relevance of diabetes distress and self-efficacy to the achievement of individual glycemic targets
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