Thought Control Questionnaire (TCQ): psychometric properties of the Portuguese (Portugal) version

The Thought Control Questionnaire (TCQ) assesses the strategies to control intrusive thoughts. In the present study we evaluated the factorial structure using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to analyze its reliability. We also analyzed the convergent and divergent validity. A sample of 558 participants from the Portuguese community replied the TCQ, the Revised Intrusions Inventory, the White Bear Suppression Inventory, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire and the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory. The CFA showed that the original five-factor model (Wells and Davies, 1994) produced an acceptable fit. However, fifteen items obtained factor loadings less than .40, whereby its reformulation would be advisable. The TCQ provided adequate levels of reliability and validity

The relationship between stress, negative (dark) personality traits, and utilitarian moral decisions

There is a growing evidence that stress affects cognitive and emotional processes underling decision making. However, according some authors, subclinical personality traits of the participants must be also considered in this relation between stress and moral decision. Our study examines whether stress affects moral decision-making according two different subclinical personalities. Forty undergraduate volunteers were previously distributed according their personality traits (Machiavellian; Narcissism and Normal) and randomly assigned to both conditions (stress vs. control). The stress induction was assessed with a self-reported questionnaire and with a measurement of heart rate. All participants performed a moral decision-making task in which every day moral dilemmas were described. The main results suggest that stress group made less utilitarian choices when compared to control group. Although machiavellian and narcissistic participants made more utilitarian decisions; the interaction between stress, personality and moral judgment did not reach significance.   We conclude that stress induction predisposed participants to less utilitarian responses when faced to personal and impersonal moral dilemmas. We also suggested that subclinical personality (particularly narcissism) seems to be less permeable to stress; revealing the same moral utilitarian pattern in both experimental conditions.Abstract: Stress affects the cognitive and emotional processes involved in moral decisions, leading to less utilitarian choices. Our study examines whether specific negative (dark) personality traits – narcissism and Machiavellianism – moderate the impact of stress on moral decision-making. Forty undergraduate volunteers were classified into three trait groups («high Machiavellian», «high narcissistic» and «low negative traits»), randomly assigned to two experimental conditions (stress vs. control) and asked to perform a moral decision task. The main results suggest that participants under acute stress made fewer utilitarian decisions when faced with personal moral decisions compared to participants from the control group and that this effect was partially moderated by negative personality traits. We concluded that acute stress may reduce utilitarian decisions in moral dilemmas, but that negative personality traits seem to attenuate the effect of stress on moral decision-making. Keywords: Moral decision; utilitarianism; negative (dark) personality traits; stress. Relación entre el estrés, los rasgos oscuros de la personalidad y las decisiones morales utilitarias Resumen: El estrés afecta a los procesos cognitivos y emocionales envueltos en a las decisiones morales, conduciendo a elecciones menos utilitarias. Nuestro estudio examina si determinados rasgos oscuros de la personalidad – el narcisismo y el maquiavelismo – moderan el impacto del estrés en la toma de decisiones morales. Cuarenta voluntarios universitarios fueron agrupados en tres categorías de rasgos («alto maquiavelismo», «alto narcisismo» y «bajos rasgos negativos»), asignados aleatoriamente a dos condiciones (estrés vs. control) y se les pidió que completasen una tarea de decisión moral. Los resultados principales sugieren que los participantes, bajo situaciones de estrés agudo, tomaron menos decisiones morales personales utilitarias en comparación con los participantes del grupo de control y que este efecto estuvo, parcialmente, moderado por los rasgos oscuros de personalidad. Concluimos que el estrés agudo parece reducir la toma de decisiones utilitarias en los dilemas morales, pero los rasgos oscuros de la personalidad pueden atenuar este efecto del estrés. Palabras clave: Decisión moral; utilitarismo; rasgos oscuros de personalidad; estrés

Viés de manutenção da atenção na ansiedade social

The role of attentional bias in social anxiety is not yet fully understood. Social anxiety individuals can show deliberate avoidance of socially threatening stimuli or, on the contrary, be hypervigilant, persistently allocating attention to those stimuli. Our main purpose was to test whether social anxiety is preferably associated with mechanisms of hypervigilance, avoidance, vigilance-avoidance or maintenance of attention towards socially relevant stimuli. Our secondary goal was to explore the modulating role of personality traits in these attention bias mechanisms. Participants with high vs low social anxiety and different personality structures were exposed to pairs of faces representing different emotions (anger, happiness and neutrality) while their eye movements were continuously recorded. Comparisons between participants with high and low levels of social anxiety showed that participants with high social anxiety were slower in disengaging their attention from happy faces, suggesting that positive emotions can be perceived as a threatening stimuli for social anxious individuals. Preliminary results indicated that depressive personality structure may favour manifestations of hypervigilance bias toward threat faces.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Trends in the epidemiology of catheter-related bloodstream infections; towards a paradigm shift, Spain, 2007 to 2019

Altres ajuts: Departament de Salut. Generalitat de Catalunya ("Pla estratègic de recerca i innovació en salut (PERIS) 2019-2021"); Ministerio de Asuntos Económicos y Transformación Digital; Red Española de Investigación en Patología Infecciosa (REIPI).Background: Catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) are frequent healthcare-associated infections and an important cause of death. Aim: To analyse changes in CRBSI epidemiology observed by the Infection Control Catalan Programme (VINCat). Methods: A cohort study including all hospital-acquired CRBSI episodes diagnosed at 55 hospitals (2007-2019) in Catalonia, Spain, was prospectively conducted. CRBSI incidence rates were adjusted per 1,000patientdays. To assess the CRBSI rate trend per year, negative binomial models were used, with the number of events as the dependent variable, and the year as the main independent variable. From each model, the annual rate of CRBSI diagnosed per 1,000patientdays and the incidence rate ratio (IRR) with its 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported. Results: During the study, 9,290 CRBSI episodes were diagnosed (mean annual incidence rate:0.20episodes/1,000patientdays). Patients' median age was 64.1years; 36.6% (3,403/9,290) were female. In total, 73.7% (n=6,845) of CRBSI occurred in non-intensive care unit (ICU) wards, 62.7% (n=5,822) were related to central venous catheter (CVC), 24.1% (n=2,236) to peripheral venous catheters (PVC) and 13.3% (n=1,232) to peripherally-inserted central venous catheters (PICVC). Incidence rate fell over the study period (IRR:0.94;95%CI:0.93-0.96), especially in the ICU (IRR:0.88;95%CI:0.87-0.89). As a whole, while episodes of CVC CRBSI fell significantly (IRR:0.88;95%CI:0.87-0.91), peripherally-inserted catheter CRBSI (PVC and PICVC) rose, especially in medical wards (IRR PICVC:1.08;95%CI:1.05-1.11; IRR PVC: 1.03; 95% 1.00-1.05). Conclusions: Over the study, CRBSIs associated with CVC and diagnosed in ICUs decreased while episodes in conventional wards involving peripherally-inserted catheters increased. Hospitals should implement preventive measures in conventional wards