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Del Casale A, Modesti MN, Lai C, Carola V, Mimun S, Bruzzese A, Speranza AM, Drakes DH, Asmundson GJG, Nicolais G. Anxiety Symptoms, COVID-19-Related Stress Reactions in the Italian General Population, and Validation of the Italian COVID Stress Scales (CSS-I). J Clin Med 2023; 12:5680. [PMID: 37685747 PMCID: PMC10488780 DOI: 10.3390/jcm12175680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Background. The COVID Stress Scales (CSS) assess COVID-related stress experienced in the past week related to danger and contamination fears, socioeconomic consequences, xenophobia, compulsive checking, and reassurance seeking, and traumatic stress symptoms. Our objective was to provide a translation into Italian, replication, and psychometric validation of the CSS in the general population. Moreover, we aimed to test the convergent and discriminant validity of the Italian CSS (CSS-I) with respect to anxiety, stress, and depressive symptoms in the general Italian population. Method. Adult participants (n = 935) over the age of 18 years were recruited from the general population in Italy. Psychological status was assessed using multiple validated measures, including the CSS, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21), and the Prejudice Against Immigrants Scale (PAIS). Results. Our confirmatory factor analysis supported a 6-factor model, including danger fears (DAN), socioeconomic consequences (SEC), xenophobia (XEN), compulsive checking and reassurance seeking (CHE), contamination fears (CON), and traumatic stress symptoms (TSS). Strong reliability of the CSS-I (Cronbach's α = 0.863-0.936) and convergent validity with the DASS-21 and PAI were established with positive correlations between total and scale scores across measures. Conclusions. The CSS-I is a valid and reliable instrument to measure COVID-19-related distress in the Italian population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Del Casale
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy (V.C.)
| | - Martina Nicole Modesti
- Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy
| | - Carlo Lai
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy (V.C.)
| | - Valeria Carola
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy (V.C.)
| | - Simone Mimun
- Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy
| | - Alba Bruzzese
- Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via di Grottarossa 1035, 00189 Rome, Italy
| | - Anna Maria Speranza
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy (V.C.)
| | - Dalainey H. Drakes
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
| | - Gordon J. G. Asmundson
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada
| | - Giampaolo Nicolais
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy (V.C.)
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Suicide Trends in the Italian State Police during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A Comparison with the Pre-Pandemic Period. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19105904. [PMID: 35627441 PMCID: PMC9140429 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19105904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Revised: 05/08/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
The pandemic is posing an occupational stressor for law enforcement personnel. Therefore, a high priority is the need to quantify this phenomenon and put supportive programs in place. During the pandemic period, the Italian State Police implemented different support programs for the personnel. These included a national toll-free number to provide information on COVID-19 to police staff, availability of a health care service by doctors and nurses at the national level, vaccination services, working remotely, and a psychological intervention protocol called “Together we can” (“Insieme Possiamo”). Our study firstly aims to perform a descriptive analysis of the suicide in the Italian police from 2016 to 2021, and secondly aims to compare the pandemic and pre-pandemic periods. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (February 2020 to October 2021), the suicide rate in the State Police did not significantly increase compared to the pre-pandemic period, showing a stable trend with a not significant decrease in the suicide rate. The implementation of staff support services by the Central Directorate of Health of the Italian State Police and individual resilience aspects of the Police personnel in response to the pandemic may have positively affected the phenomenon. These aspects pave the way to further studies on the issue to improve preventive strategies.
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Del Casale A, Modesti MN, Rapisarda L, Girardi P, Tambelli R. Clinical Aspects of Manic Episodes After SARS-CoV-2 Contagion or COVID-19. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:926084. [PMID: 35782430 PMCID: PMC9240303 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.926084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
As COVID-19 pandemic spread all over the world, it brought serious health consequences in every medical field, including mental health. Not only healthcare professionals were more prone to develop anxiety, depression, and stress, but the general population suffered as well. Some of those who had no prior history of a psychiatric disease developed peculiar symptoms following infection with SARS-CoV-2, mostly because of psychological and social issues triggered by the pandemic. People developed traumatic memories, and hypochondria, probably triggered by social isolation and stress. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 has influenced the mental health of psychiatric patients as well, exacerbating prior psychiatric conditions. In this review, we focus on analyzing those cases of mania in the context of bipolar disorder (BD) reported after COVID-19 disease, both in people with no prior psychiatric history and in psychiatric patients who suffered an exacerbation of the disease. Results have shown that COVID-19 may trigger a pre-existing BD or unmask an unknown BD, due to social and psychological influences (decreased social interaction, change in sleep patterns) and through biological pathways both (neuroinflammation and neuroinvasion through ACE-2 receptors expressed in the peripheral and central nervous systems (PNS and CNS respectively). No direct correlation was found between the severity of COVID-19 disease and manic symptoms. All cases presenting severe symptoms of both diseases needed specific medical treatment, meaning that they concur but are separate in the treatment strategy needed. This review highlights the importance of a now widespread viral disease as a potential agent unmasking and exacerbating bipolar mood disorder, and it can hopefully help physicians in establishing a rapid diagnosis and treatment, and pave the road for future research on neuroinflammation triggered by SARS-CoV-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Del Casale
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.,Unit of Psychiatry, 'Sant'Andrea' University Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | | | | | - Paolo Girardi
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Renata Tambelli
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
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Del Casale A, Modesti MN, Lai C, Ciacchella C, Veneziani G, Barchielli B, Ferracuti S, Napoli C, Pompili M. Calls to the anti-violence number in Italy during COVID-19 pandemic: correlation and trend analyses of violence reports during 2020. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2022; 57:2503-2510. [PMID: 35802171 PMCID: PMC9263036 DOI: 10.1007/s00127-022-02330-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2021] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE We hypothesized that during the 2020 pandemic there has been a significant change along the year, depending on the SARS-CoV-2 impact on the population and varying difficulties implied in the norms that were adopted to embank the pandemic. Our objectives were to verify how the phenomenon of domestic violence has evolved and changed along 2020, and to clarify if these changes were correlated to the evolution of the pandemic. METHODS Though the analysis of the number of daily calls from women to the national anti-violence number and the parameters related to COVID-19 pandemic (daily cases, deaths, hospitalizations, and admissions in ICU), a positive correlation was found between daily deaths due to COVID-19 and the number of calls to the anti-violence number, while daily hospitalizations and admissions in ICU negatively correlated with calls of women reporting at the national anti-violence number. RESULTS The number of daily calls from women reporting at the national anti-violence number positively correlated with the number of quarantined people shifted of 30 days from the beginning of isolation at home, as well. We also analyzed temporal trends of daily calls from women to the national anti-violence number from 25th of February 2020 to 31st of December 2020. CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate the importance of an active anti-violence telephone service and may help in developing a strategy to improve anti-violence facilities, especially during crises, such as specific sources of psychological support for women who have survived violence episodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Del Casale
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. .,Unit of Psychiatry, 'Sant'Andrea' University Hospital, Via di Grottarossa 1035-1039, 00189, Rome, Italy.
| | - Martina Nicole Modesti
- Department of Neuroscience, Mental Health and Sensory Organs (NESMOS), Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Carlo Lai
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Chiara Ciacchella
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Giorgio Veneziani
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Benedetta Barchielli
- Department of Human Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Stefano Ferracuti
- Department of Human Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Christian Napoli
- Department of Medical-Surgical Sciences and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Maurizio Pompili
- Department of Neuroscience, Mental Health and Sensory Organs (NESMOS), Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
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