Psychological Changes of Music and Fine Arts Students in the Education Process: A Comparative Longitudinal Study

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to determine the changes in psychological distress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in students from the fine arts faculty in the first 2 years of their education in Turkey, in comparison with students from other faculties, and to reveal the causes of psychological distress, anxiety, and depression in fine arts students.

METHODS

The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were applied to students from Faculty of Fine Arts and the Faculties of Economics and Sport Sciences (controls) in the first week of the 2017-2018 academic year. Students also completed a questionnaire measuring their possible stressful life events (at timepoint T1). The process was repeated for the same students in the second year (T2). The changes between the two time¬points were examined prospectively.

RESULTS

A total of 96 fine arts students agreed to participate at T1 and 66 at T2 (68.8%); for the controls, it was 259 at T1 and 182 (70.3%) at T2. The fine arts students at T1 included 15 music majors, 45 cinema and television, and 36 handi¬crafts, sculpture, and painting. Their average age at T1 was 21.0 yrs (SD 5.8) and 54.2% were male; for the other students, it was 19.4 yrs (2.7) and 56.0% male. Fine arts students' GHQ-12 score averages increased significantly from T1 to T2 (11.7 to 14.3, p=0.002). Their BDI score averages increased from 10.3 to 12.3 (p=0.044). Moreover, their S-Anxiety score averages increased from 41.1 at T1 to 44.1 at T2 (p=0.008). However, the increase in T-Anxiety scores was not statistically significant. None of the control students' test scores varied between the two timepoints (p>0.05). At T2, for fine arts students, there was no significant difference between female and male students in terms of GHQ-12, BDI, and S-Anxiety scores. However, T-anxiety scores were higher in female students. By linear regression analysis, "worrying about the future (individual)" was found to be a determinant on all scale scores in fine arts students.

CONCLUSION

The psychological indicators increased significantly in fine arts students during the first year of their education.

There might be a role for CD200 in the pathogenesis of autoimmune and inflammatory skin disorders

BACKGROUND

Soluble CD200 (sCD200) is a novel immuno-effective molecule, which acts to regulate inflammatory and acquired immune responses. Recently, our study group showed that sCD200 was present in serum and blister fluid in a patient with bullous pemphigoid and a patient with toxic epidermal necrolysis. We therefore planned this study to evaluate the sCD200 levels of autoimmune and inflammatory skin disorder patients and to compare them with that of healthy controls.

MATERIAL/METHODS

Our study included 30 consecutive patients with psoriasis vulgaris, 15 with pemphigus vulgaris, and 15 healthy controls. Clinical examination and laboratory tests were performed on the same day. Psoriasis patients were also assessed with the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and pemphigus patients were assessed using the Pemphigus Disease Area Index (PDAI). Levels of sCD200 in the serum samples were quantified using ELISA kits.

RESULTS

The serum sCD200 level was observed to be statistically significantly higher in patients with psoriasis vulgaris (96.7±15.8) compared to patients with pemphigus vulgaris (76.2±14.6), (p<0.001) and healthy controls (26.8±7.0) (p<0.001). The serum sCD200 levels were observed to be statistically significantly higher in patients with pemphigus vulgaris compared with that in healthy controls (p<0.001). In addition, there was a statistically significant correlation between serum sCD200 levels and PDAI (r=0.987, p=0.001). Nevertheless, there was no statistically significant correlation between serum sCD200 levels and PASI (r=0.154, p=0.407).

CONCLUSIONS

sCD200 might play a role in immune response in the pathogenesis of autoimmune and inflammatory skin disorders. However, it remains to be fully elucidated how sCD200 can orchestrate inflammatory response in psoriasis and pemphigus.