Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the 10-item perceived stress scale in a sample of teachers

Background

The 10-item Perceived Stress Scale is a widely used questionnaire for measuring perceived stress.

Aim

This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale in a sample of Italian teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was performed. A sample of 1,179 teachers of pre-primary, primary, and secondary schools anonymously completed an online questionnaire. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis was performed to compare the fit of a two-factor model against a one-factor solution of the scale. Multigroup CFA was run to test the measurement invariance of the two-factor PSS-10 solution across gender. The internal reliability of the scale was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha and McDonald' omega coefficients. Convergent validity with measures of subjective well-being and self-reported health was evaluated.

Results

The results of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed that the two-factor structure of the 10-items Perceived Stress Scale provided a better fit to the data and supported the adequacy of the Italian version of the scale. The two-factor model showed measurement invariance across female and male groups, as result of the multigroup CFA. The scale proved to have good internal reliability. Correlation analyses with measures of the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule and self-reported health supported convergent validity.

Conclusion

These results suggest that the Italian version of the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale has good psychometric properties and can be considered a valid and reliable instrument to assess perceived stress.

Perceived stress and affective experience in Italian teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic: correlation with coping and emotion regulation strategies

The COVID-19 pandemic has represented a source of stress for teachers by adding new challenges. The objective of this study was to assess the association between emotion regulation and coping strategies, on the one hand, and perceived stress and affective experience on the other among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 1178 of Italian pre-primary, primary, and secondary school teachers completed an online survey. Three hierarchical linear regression analyses were run to evaluate teachers’ emotion regulation, coping strategies, years of teaching experience, perceived workload, and perceptions about online teaching in predicting their perceived stress and positive and negative affect. The findings showed that cognitive reappraisal and positive attitude were associated with a lower level of perceived stress and negative affect and a higher level of positive affect. Problem orientation strategies were also associated with a higher level of positive affect. By contrast, expressive suppression was correlated with a higher level of perceived stress. Avoidance coping strategies were associated with higher perceived stress and negative affect and a lower level of positive affect. The perceived burden of online teaching was positively related with perceived stress and negative affect. Confidence in using educational technologies predicted lower levels of perceived stress, and previous online teaching experience was positively correlated with positive affect. The findings of this study could be useful for implementing teacher training programmes on emotion regulation and coping strategies to reduce stress and promote positive affect.

A Parent-Mediated Telehealth Program for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder : Promoting Parents' Ability to Stimulate the Children's Learning, Reduce Parenting Stress, and Boost Their Sense of Parenting Empowerment

This study investigates the effectiveness of a 6-month parent-mediated early intervention telehealth program for children with an autism spectrum disorder. The participants comprised a total of 27 parents. The findings showed that participation in the program promotes parents' empowerment and reduce parental stress and a general improvement in the parents' ability to stimulate children's learning. Moreover, the study reveals an effect of parents' age in mediating the relationship among the parents' ability, stress, and empowerment levels. These results suggest that an early intervention telehealth program may help parents become aware of how to benefit from interactions with their children, promote their empowerment, and reduce parenting stress.

The relationship between empathy and altruistic motivations in nursing studies: a multi-method study

BACKGROUND

The efficient management of relational competences in healthcare professionals is crucial to ensuring that a patient's treatment and care process is conducted positively. Empathy is a major component of the relational skills expected of health professionals. Knowledge of undergraduate healthcare students' empathic abilities is important for educators in designing specific and efficient educational programmes aimed at supporting or enhancing such competences. In this study, we measured first-year undergraduate nursing students' attitudes towards professional empathy in clinical encounters. The students' motivations for entering nursing education were also evaluated. This study takes a multi-method approach based on the use of qualitative and quantitative tools to examine the association between students' positive attitudes towards the value of empathy in health professionals and their prosocial and altruistic motivations in choosing to engage in nursing studies.

METHODS

A multi-method study was performed with 77 first-year nursing students. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) - Health Professions Student Version was administered. Students' motivations for choosing nursing studies were detected through an open question and thematically analysed. Using explorative factor analysis and principal component analysis, a dimensional reduction was conducted to identify subjects with prosocial and altruistic motivations. Finally, linear models were tested to examine specific associations between motivation and empathy.

RESULTS

Seven distinct themes distinguishing internal and external motivational factors were identified through a thematic analysis of students' answers regarding their decision to enter a nursing degree course. Female students gained higher scores on the empathy scale than male ones. When students' age was considered, this difference was only observed for younger students, with young females' total scores being higher than young males'. High empathy scores were positively associated with altruistic motivational factors. A negative correlation was found between external motivational factors and the scores of the Compassionate Care subscale of the JSE.

CONCLUSIONS

Knowing the level of nursing students' empathy and their motivational factors for entering nursing studies is important for educators to implement training paths that enhance students' relational attitudes and skills and promote the positive motivational aspects that are central to this profession.

Self-reported motivation for choosing nursing studies: a self-determination theory perspective

BACKGROUND

The nursing shortage is of worldwide concern, with nursing student retention acknowledged as a priority. As a fundamental step towards exploring factors that can guide the implementation of strategic approaches to retain undergraduate nursing students and prevent their attrition, the aim of this study is to examine the motivation for choosing nursing studies of first-year nursing students within the theoretical framework of self-determination theory.

METHODS

We conducted a study at the Medical School of the University of Palermo. A total of 133 first-year nursing students completed a two-part questionnaire: a measure of socio-demographic aspects and an open question about their motivation for choosing nursing studies. Students' responses were analysed using thematic analysis. Dimensional analysis was performed in order to verify an organization along one dimension, in agreement with the differentiation of the autonomous and controlled types of motivation of self-determination theory. A person-centred approach was utilised to define motivational profiles able to characterize clusters of students according to both quality and quantity of motivation.

RESULTS

A set of 18 categories was developed. The factor analysis has shown that nursing students' motivations can be organized along one dimension, in alignment with the differentiation of the autonomous and controlled forms of motivation of self-determination theory. Through adoption of a person-centred approach, four motivational profiles were identified: a) students with good quality motivation profile (high autonomous and low controlled); b) students with poor quality motivation profile (low autonomous and high controlled); c) students with low quantity motivation profile (low autonomous and low controlled); d) students with low quantity and poor quality motivation profile (i.e. prevalence of controlled motivation).

CONCLUSIONS

Importance of this research includes the possibility to interpret nursing students' reasons within the theoretical framework of self-determination theory, a well-grounded model able to offer useful information to academic nursing schools, in order to promote effective strategies to foster and support student motivation.

Case-Based Learning: A Formal Approach to Generate Health Case Studies from Electronic Healthcare Records

There is an increasing social pressure to train medical students with a level of competency sufficient to face clinical practice already at the end of their curriculum. The case-based learning (CBL) is an efficient teaching method to prepare students for clinical practice through the use of real or realistic clinical cases. In this regard, the Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR) could be a good source of real patient stories that can be transformed into educative cases. In this paper a formal approach to generate Health Case Studies from EHR is defined.

Test-enhanced learning: analysis of an experience with undergraduate nursing students

BACKGROUND

This study is based on the evidence that tests can be used as an educational tool to enhance learning, not just as an evaluation tool. There is a growing body of research that shows that participating in repeated testing improves learning, a phenomenon defined as Test-Enhanced Learning. The aim of the present study was to analyse the effect of the use of a test enhanced learning program integrated into a general psychology course for undergraduate nursing students and its interaction with the students' test anxiety.

METHODS

161 undergraduate nursing students attending a General Psychology course followed an educational program based on Test-Enhanced Learning methodology. Students were divided into two groups, an experimental group (TEL group) and a control group (Re-study group). TEL students took a multiple-choice test on the lecture topics. The Re-study group just read study material. Testing and re-study occurred at intervals of about a week after each lesson. TEL students received feedback immediately after each test. About two weeks after the end of the lessons, all the students took a final cumulative test on all the topics. Statistical analysis was used to analyse students' performances. After the administration of the cumulative unit test, all the students took a graded examination.

RESULTS

Students in the TEL group performed better than the controls, both in the final cumulative test and in a graded examination. TEL participants experienced better final cumulative test results than students not tested (M TEL = 23.11, M Re-study = 20.47, t(109.86) = -2.57, p < 0.05, r = 0.24). Test-Enhanced Learning program participation has a positive impact on exam performance (βG_Step1 = 0.46, p < 0.001). Finally, the analysis performed shows a slight moderating effect of test anxiety on Test-Enhanced Learning (βGxTA_Step3 = 0.15, p < 0.05).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

Test-Enhanced Learning can be an effective tool for promoting and enhancing learning. In fact, taking tests after studying produced better long-term retention and then better final test performance than re-reading without testing. Both students in the TEL group and the Re-study group with a high test anxiety level perform less well than colleagues with lower test anxiety. Nevertheless, students with higher test anxiety may obtain more benefits from participating in a Test-Enhanced Learning process than people with lower test anxiety. Further studies on larger and more representative samples are necessary in order to investigate the effect of test anxiety on Test-Enhanced Learning.

Dendritic Ih selectively blocks temporal summation of unsynchronized distal inputs in CA1 pyramidal neurons

The active dendritic conductances shape the input-output properties of many principal neurons in different brain regions, and the various ways in which they regulate neuronal excitability need to be investigated to better understand their functional consequences. Using a realistic model of a hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neuron, we show a major role for the hyperpolarization-activated current, Ih, in regulating the spike probability of a neuron when independent synaptic inputs are activated with different degrees of synchronization and at different distances from the soma. The results allowed us to make the experimentally testable prediction that the Ih in these neurons is needed to reduce neuronal excitability selectively for distal unsynchronized, but not for synchronized, inputs.

Quantitative modeling of perception and production of time intervals

The accurate perception/production of durations in the seconds and minutes range is important in a number of everyday activities, but the lack of direct experimental evidence on the neural circuits that could be involved has precluded the detailed elucidation of the underlying physiological mechanisms. We show, using a basic biophysical model of a timekeeping system and experimental data on time intervals produced or estimated under different conditions, that experimental values, variability, and distributions can be quantitatively explained in terms of a background synaptic activity such as that generated by attention. The model provides a plausible neural substrate for encoding time intervals, and the findings suggest how it may interplay at the single neuron level with the attentional system, to elaborate a subjective representation of the elapsing time.

A model of the effects of cognitive load on the subjective estimation and production of time intervals

How and where the brain calculates elapsing time is not known, and one or more internal pacemakers or others timekeeping systems have been suggested. Experiments have shown that the accuracy in estimating or producing time intervals depends on many factors and, in particular, both on the length of the intervals to be estimated and on the additional, and unrelated, cognitive load required during the task. The psychological 'attentional approach' is able to explain the experimental data in terms of perturbations of a cognitive timer. However, the basic biophysical mechanisms that could be involved at the single neuron level are still not clear. Here we propose a computational model suggesting how the process to focus the attention on a non-temporal task could alter the perception of time intervals as observed in the experiments. The model suggests that an attention-based excitatory and/or inhibitory background synaptic noise, impinging on the pacemaker circuit, could represent both qualitative and quantitative features of the cognitive load. These effects are predicted to be independent of the number, location or specific implementations of the internal timing systems.

The influence of volume depletion and central hypovolemia on the plasma concentration of parathyroid hormone in dialysis patients

Because changes in extracellular volume during dialysis cause reflex neurohonnonal changes that may influence parathyroid hormone (PTH) release independently of calcium, the influence of isotonic volume depletion (by isolated ultrafiltration) and central hypovolemia (70 degrees tilt) on serum PTH1-84 was studied in 16 hemodialysis patients. Tilting was performed in volume depleted state, i.e., immediately after hemodialysis. In the control study, patients underwent sham ultrafiltration (UF = 0) and after dialysis maintained the supine position for the same length of time they remained in the tilt position in the active experiment. Isolated ultrafiltration (-2.3 +/- SEM 0.3 L) caused a 21% fall in mean arterial pressure (from 101 +/- 6 to 80 +/- 6 mmHg, P < 0.01), a fall that was accompanied by a marked increase in plasma catecholamine levels (norepinephrine P < 0.001, epinephrine P < 0.025), in plasma renin activity (P < 0.001) and in plasma arginine vasopressin (P < O.001). Atrial natriuretic factor showed a slight reduction, whereas the plasma endothelin-1 level did not change. Serum Ca showed the expected, hemoconcentration-dependent rise (from 4.1 +/- 0.1 to 4.4 +/- 0.1 meq/L, P < 0.01). Interestingly, UF caused a marked rise in plasma PTH1-84 concentration (from 252 +/- 62 to 335 +/- 72 pg/ml, P < 0.01). UF-induced changes in serum PTH1-84 were related to norepinephrine changes (r = 0.57) as well as to plasma renin activity (r = 0.50). After hemodialysis, tilting induced a pronounced rise in serum PTH1-84 (from 102 +/- 29 to 200 +/- 55 pg/ml), and these changes were slightly related to plasma epinephrine (r = 0.49) but independent of other parameters. In the control experiment, neither sham UF nor recumbency modified serum PTH. In hemodialysis patients, serum PTH is sensitive to changes in extracellular and central blood volume of magnitude sufficient to decrease arterial pressure. Avoiding marked volume stimuli might help to refine the interpretation of the Ca/PTH curves during hemodialysis in these patients.

Influence of extracellular volume expansion on circulating PTH1-84 in subjects with mild essential hypertension

The effect of acute volume expansion by saline (1 L/40 min) on serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentration was studied in 28 subjects with mild essential hypertension. At the zenith volume expansion there was a significant increase in systolic pressure (7 +/- 2 mm Hg, P < .01) while diastolic pressure and heart rate showed minor (NS) variations. The rise in systolic pressure was accompanied by a significant (P = .02) decrease in plasma ionized calcium (from 1.12 +/- 0.03 to 1.08 +/- 0.03 mmol/L) and by a marked PTH increase (from 36 +/- 3 to 60 +/- 4 pg/mL, P < .01). The arterial pressure variations were independent of changes in serum PTH. In a second experiment (n = 11), aimed at preventing the changes in calcium concentration brought about by hemodilution, we infused the same volume of saline with the addition of 1.25 mmol of elemental calcium. In this study PTH showed a small, nonsignificant, decrease while systolic pressure changes were similar to those of the first study (ie, an isolated 9 +/- 4 mm Hg increase in systolic pressure). In a third experiment (n = 7), aimed at studying the effect of raised plasma PTH concentration in isocalcemic conditions, PTH1-38 was continuously infused (1 ng/kg/min) during the volume expansion phase performed with the same solution as used in the second experiment. The hemodynamic changes were again identical to those of the other studies (an isolated 9 +/- 3 mm Hg increase in systolic pressure).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Age-related changes in total DNA and RNA and incorporation of uridine and thymidine in rat liver, kidney and spleen

Total content of DNA and RNA in liver, kidney and spleen were measured in young and aged rats. At the same time the incorporation of [14C]thymidine, a DNA precursor, and [3H]uridine, an RNA precursor, were also determined. Changes in total organ DNA and RNA correlated with sexual maturation as did incorporation of precursors. Young animals have more DNA per organ relative to RNA, with kidney and spleen DNA showing a decrease between maturity and senescence. However, liver RNA increases with age, a change probably due to decreased catabolism of RNA since [3H]urine uptake decreases. Liver polyploid differentiation, and [14C]thymidine and [3H]uridine uptake, are correlated. In kidney, incorporation of [3H]uridine is inversely related to [14C]thymidine incorporation.

Age related changes in total DNA and RNA and incorporation of uridine and thymidine in rat brain

1. Total brain DNA and total brain RNA and the incorporation of thymidine[14C] and uridine[3H] were measured in young and aged rats. 2. From 20 days to the time of sexual maturation, both DNA and RNA levels increase. Total RNA exceeds total DNA at all ages. Comparatively, the ratio of total DNA/RNA is higher in young than in aged animals. 3. The incorporation of thymidine[14C]/g of DNA and of uridine[3H]/g of RNA decreases with age. This decrease is rapid in young animals. After 350 days of age, the incorporation becomes very low. The significance of data is discussed.

Temporal changes of [3H]uridine and [14C]thymidine incorporation and total organ DNA and RNA in rat thymus

Aging at organ, cell and molecular levels is characterized by a variety of deleterious changes. Theoretically, all of these changes must be linked to the primary informational molecule DNA and its ancillary control proteins. The present experiments were done to determine how the rate of nucleotide uptake and/or total quantity of RNA and DNA vary with age. Thymus showed age-related changes in radionucleotide uptake and total quantity of RNA and DNA. The ratio of DNA to RNA is higher in organs of younger animals. Total organ thymus DNA decreased between maturity and senescence. Sexual maturation correlates with DNA and RNA in total organ content or in synthesis.

Temporal changes in histone acetylation

The incorporation of tritiated acetate was studied in developing and aging rats. Thymus, liver and serum were collected 30 minutes after injection of acetate. The trichloroacetic acid precipitable histone fraction was then extracted from liver and thymus and its radioactivity determined. Serum and cytoplasmic fractions were also counted. Serum activity declined with age. Thymus histone and cytoplasmic fractions showed a cyclic pattern. Acetylation of liver histones showed a straight line decline to a relatively constant level. The decline in acetylation of liver histones is postulated to be due to repression of acetylation processes and is thought to parallel the change of hepatocytes from a diploid to a polyploid state.

Transition metals in calf thymus deoxyribonucleoprotein

Fe, Ni, Cu and Zn were found by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence in calf thymus deoxyribonucleoprotein. The X-ray analyses indicated the absence of Cr, Mn and Co.