Patient profile and management of delirium in older adults hospitalized due to COVID-19

SARS-CoV-2 can cause neurologic symptoms, as well as respiratory ones. Older adults are at risk of developing acute delirium in older persons (ADOP). The combination of experiencing respiratory isolation due to COVID-19, as well as other associated risk factors for older adults, may have had an impact on ADOP and ADOP management in the acute hospital setting. This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of ADOP in patients admitted to a COVID-19 unit. An observational prospective study on a sample of 108 patients was carried out between November 2020 and May 2021. The following data were collected: sociodemographic characteristics, risk factors for ADOP, management of ADOP, and impact on ADOP on both functional and cognitive deteriora-tion. A 29.6% proportion of older adults admitted to an acute COVID-19 unit presented hyperactive ADOP, mainly during the night. Management of ADOP in our sample involved mainly pharmaco-logical treatment and had a serious impact on hospital stay and both functional and cognitive dete-rioration. Preventive strategies and being accompanied by a relative or a carer may be useful to manage ADOP during hospital admission due to COVID-19

Clinical and epidemiological approach to delirium in an acute care unit: a cross-sectional study

During hospital admissions, the union of various factors, those related to acute pathology, dependency conditions, cognitive impairment, change of habitual environment, and others, can cause delirium. Acute delirium in the elderly (ADE) occurs in around a third of patients over 70 years of age. The syndrome generates serious complications that increase hospital morbidity and mortality and a high cost for the health administration. This study aimed to determine the clinical and epidemiological profile of ADE in an internal medicine unit. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out using a convenience test. A total of 356 patients participated between September and November 2021. Sociodemographic variables, predisposing and precipitating factors of ADE, methods of action against ADE, and the impact on functional and cognitive deterioration were analyzed. A total of 35.1% of the patients developed ADE, mostly of the hyperactive type and of nocturnal appearance. ADE was mainly treated with psychoactive drugs and 22% required mechanical restraint, with non-pharmacological preventive strategies, support, and caregiver training being the main tools for controlling ADE during hospital admission

Health Plans for Suicide Prevention in Spain: A Descriptive Analysis of the Published Documents

The number of deaths by suicide worldwide each year is more than 800,000 people, which is equivalent to one death every 40 seconds. Suicide prevention has been listed by the World Health Organisation as a global imperative and has become a priority for global public health. This descriptive study describes and compares the intervention components included in the suicide prevention plans in the different provinces of Spain. We analysed the published documents through an extensive literature search and summarised the findings using descriptive content analysis. The search was carried out through the official websites of the government and health departments of each province in addition to consulting other official digital platforms such as the National Suicide Observatory, the World Health Organisation and the National Institute of Statistics. The results show the most relevant differences between the prevention plans, revealing that although all the activities included were related to the health sector, not all of them include prevention aimed at the general population level. We conclude that there is a lack of interventions related to the application of universal prevention, while selective and indicated prevention are the most developed tools in Spain

Transcultural Adaptation of and Theoretical Validation Models for the Spanish Version of the Nurses' Global Assessment of Suicide Risk Scale: Protocol for a Multicenter Cross-sectional Study

Background: The use of validated instruments means providing health professionals with reliable and valid tools. The Nurses' Global Assessment of Suicide Risk (NGASR) scale has proven to be valid and reliable in supporting the nursing evaluation of suicide risk in different languages and cultural environments. Objective: The aims of our study are to translate and adapt the NGASR scale for the Spanish population and evaluate its psychometric properties in patients with suicide risk factors. Methods: The translation, adaptation, and modeling of the tool will be performed. The sample will include 165 participants. The psychometric analysis will include reliability and validity tests of the tool's internal structure. The tool's reliability will be assessed by exploring internal consistency and calculating the Cronbach α coefficient; significance values of .70 or higher will be accepted as indicators of good internal consistency. The underlying factor structure of the Spanish version of the NGASR scale will be assessed by performing an exploratory factor analysis. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sample adequacy and the Bartlett sphericity statistic will be calculated beforehand. For the latter, if P is <.05 for the null hypothesis of sphericity, the null hypothesis will be rejected. Results: Participants will be recruited between April 2022 and December 2022. Our study is expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2023. Conclusions: We hope to find the same firmness that colleagues have found in other countries in order to consolidate and promote the use of the NGASR tool in the Spanish population. The prevention and treatment of suicidal behavior require holistic, multidisciplinary, and comprehensive management

Psychometric properties and cultural adaptation of “LifeConScale” -Life Conditions Scale for Adolescents

Promoting the adoption of healthy habits represents a great challenge for health and education professionals. In this sense, childhood and adolescence are propitious times for the acquisition and consolidation of behaviors and skills, being that numerous and different determinants act in the genesis of behavior. The purpose of this study was to test the Psychometric properties and cultural adaptation of “LifeConScale” -Life Conditions Scale for Adolescents-. A cross-sectional and multicenter study was carried out in a representative sample of adolescents enrolled in 1st and 2nd year of Compulsory Secondary Education in 18 educational centers in Aragon, during the 2018–2019 school year. Sociodemographic characteristics, life skills, daily habits, and academic performance were analyzed using an adapted questionnaire from different scales and previous studies. For the adaptation of the questionnaire, the expert panel technique was used and for its validation, exploratory factor analysis was carried out and Cronbach’s Alpha was applied, assessing the global internal consistency and of each one of the factors. The instrument showed a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin sample size adequacy of 0.8122. A 6-dimensional model was chosen that explained 75.25% of the variance. The goodness of fit obtained a value of 0.802 in the Nomed Fix Index. The Comparative Fit Index was 0.891. The result of the analysis of variances and covariances carried out according to the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual yielded a value of 0.093 The analysis showed excellent application conditions in the study population and construct validity. This instrument will be useful for the evaluation of educational programs that work to promote health in educational centers, such as Health Promoting Schools

Transcultural Adaptation and Theoretical Models of Validation of the Spanish Version of the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index Version 6.2 (SCHFI v.6.2)

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a major and growing public health problem worldwide. Across the world, heart failure is associated with high mortality, high hospitalization rates, and poor quality of life. Self-care is defined as a naturalistic decision-making process involving the choice of behaviors that maintain physiologic stability, the response to symptoms when they occur, and the ability to follow the treatment regimen and control symptoms. One instrument used to measure self-care is the Self Care of Heart Failure Index. Aim: The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Self Care of Heart Failure Index v.6.2 (SCHFI v.6.2). Methodology: Before testing its psychometric properties, the SCHFI v.6.2 was translated and adapted from its original English version into Spanish. Subsequently, we tested the instrument’s psychometric properties on a sample of 203 participants with HF. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the sociodemographic and clinical variables, and to describe item responses. We tested the factorial validity of the SCHFI v.6.2 using confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed using the our pre-existing models which resulted with poor fit indices. Thus, we performed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on each of the SCHFI v.6.2 scales. Conclusion: The Spanish version of the SCHFI v.6.2. has good characteristics of factorial validity and can be used in clinical practice and research to measure self-care in patients with HF

Spanish Version of the Caregiver Contribution to Self-Care of Heart Failure Index (CC-SCHFI): A Psychometric Evaluation

Background: The Caregiver Contribution to Self-Care of Heart Failure (CC-SCHFI) is a theoretically driven instrument to measure the extent to which caregivers support heart failure (HF) patients to perform self-care. The CC-SCHFI measures caregivers’ contribution to self-care maintenance and self-care management and caregiver confidence in contributing to heart failure patients’ self-care. To date, the CC-SCHFI has never been tested in Spanish-speaking populations. Purpose: To translate the CC-SCHFI from English into Spanish and to test its psychometric characteristics. Method: CC-SCHFI translation and back-translation were performed according to the Beaton et al. methodology. Data from a cross-sectional study conducted in an outpatient clinic in Spain were used for the analysis. Psychometric analysis was performed with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with oblique rotation. Results: Caregivers had a mean age of 60.5 years (SD 14,9) and the majority were female (85%). Data from 220 caregivers were analyzed. From EFA, using the principal axis factoring method, we extracted two factors in the self-care maintenance subscale (“treatment adherence behaviors” and “symptom control and maintenance behaviors”), two in the self-care monitoring subscale (“illness behaviors” and “prevention behaviors”) and one factor for the self-efficacy subscale. The Pearson’s rank correlation coefficients between SCHFI and CCSCHFI showed significant correlation in each subdimension