Spiritual coping and psychological symptoms as the end approaches: a closer look on ambulatory palliative care patients.

Palliative care providers must seek to improve quality of life despite their patients' life-threating diseases, based on the concept of total pain, which includes physical, psychological and spiritual pain. Understanding the relationship between spiritual coping and psychological symptoms (especially depressive symptoms) could help healthcare teams better address patients' needs. Across-sectional survey with aconvenient sample of ambulatory palliative care patients investigated their psychological pain through the Hospital Anxiety and Depressive (HAD) scale and their use of spirituality using the Brief Religious/spiritual coping (BriefRCOPE) scale. Alinear regression model, using the HADS-depression as outcome variable and the BriefRCOPE as the independent variable, adjusting for confounding variables, investigated the possible association between these variables. Due to methodological limitations, just 40 out 130 potential participants were assessed, with 40percent showing depressive symptoms. In regression model, depressive and anxiety symptoms were significantly associated with each other (p = 0.037 and 0.015, respectively) and negative religious/spiritual coping was associated with depressive symptoms (p = 0.033). This study found asignificant relationship between psychological pain and negative spiritual coping mechanisms. Palliative care professionals should be trained to address patients' total pain and spiritual needs, supporting their ability to cope with their suffering.

Depressive symptoms and harmful alcohol use in hepatitis C patients: prevalence and correlates.

INTRODUCTION: It is important to understand the characteristics and vulnerabilities of people who have hepatitis C because this disease is currently an important public health problem. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and harmful alcohol use in patients with hepatitis C and to study the association between these outcomes and demographic, psychosocial and clinical variables. METHODS: This cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study involved 82 hepatitis C patients who were being treated with pegylated interferon and ribavirin at a public university hospital. The primary assessments used in the study were the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and the Beck Depression Inventory. Bivariate analyses were followed by logistic regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 30.5% (n=25), and that of harmful alcohol use was 34.2% (n=28). Logistic regression analysis showed that individuals who were dissatisfied with their social support (OR=4.41; CI=1.00-19.33) and were unemployed (OR=6.31; CI=1.44-27.70) were at a higher risk for depressive symptoms, whereas harmful alcohol use was associated with the male sex (OR=6.78; CI=1.38-33.19) and the use of illicit substances (OR=7.42; CI=1.12-49.00). CONCLUSIONS: High prevalence rates of depressive symptoms and harmful alcohol use were verified, indicating vulnerabilities that must be properly monitored and treated to reduce emotional suffering in this population.

Depressive symptoms and harmful alcohol use in hepatitis C patients: prevalence and correlates

Introduction It is important to understand the characteristics and vulnerabilities of people who have hepatitis C because this disease is currently an important public health problem. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and harmful alcohol use in patients with hepatitis C and to study the association between these outcomes and demographic, psychosocial and clinical variables. Methods This cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study involved 82 hepatitis C patients who were being treated with pegylated interferon and ribavirin at a public university hospital. The primary assessments used in the study were the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and the Beck Depression Inventory. Bivariate analyses were followed by logistic regression. Results The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 30.5% (n=25), and that of harmful alcohol use was 34.2% (n=28). Logistic regression analysis showed that individuals who were dissatisfied with their social support (OR=4.41; CI=1.00-19.33) and were unemployed (OR=6.31; CI=1.44-27.70) were at a higher risk for depressive symptoms, whereas harmful alcohol use was associated with the male sex (OR=6.78; CI=1.38-33.19) and the use of illicit substances (OR=7.42; CI=1.12-49.00). Conclusions High prevalence rates of depressive symptoms and harmful alcohol use were verified, indicating vulnerabilities that must be properly monitored and treated to reduce emotional suffering in this population. .