Evaluation of the performance of instruments to diagnose grief disorders: A diagnostic meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Prolonged or complicated grief disorder occurs in 9.8% of bereaved adults and can progress into adverse health effects if left unresolved. Evidence on the appropriate and specific diagnostic instrument for the assessment of prolonged or complicated grief disorders is lacking. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of the most widely used instruments to diagnose grief disorders, including The Inventory of Complicated Grief, The Inventory of Complicated Grief - Revised, and the Prolonged Grief Disorder-13. DESIGN: Diagnostic meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane were searched up to July 1, 2020. METHODS: We included studies evaluating the sensitivity and specificity of grief disorders diagnostic tools against the comparator tests in individuals who experienced the loss of a family member. A diagnostic meta-analysis of pooled sensitivity and specificity, likelihood ratios, and area under curve were performed with a random-effect and hierarchical model. RESULTS: In the current study, 3540 participants were involved. The six studies of the Inventory of Complicated Grief had pooled sensitivity of 0.93 (95% confidence interval: 0.87 to 0.97) and specificity of 0.96 (95% confidence interval: 0.92 to 0.98). The positive likelihood ratio was 23.4 (95% confidence interval: 11.2 to 49.0) and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.07 (95% confidence interval: 0.04 to 0.14) with area under curve value at 0.96 (95% confidence interval: 0.97 to 0.99). For Prolonged Grief Disorder-13, the three included studies' pooled sensitivity was 0.51 (95% confidence interval: 0.42 to 0.60), and the pooled specificity was 0.96 (95% confidence interval: 0.93 to 0.98). The Inventory of Complicated Grief-Revised evaluation could not be performed as only two articles from the same study were identified in this meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The Inventory of Complicated Grief is a highly recommend instrument to differentiate the case of grief disorders. Nurses and health care professionals can use the Inventory of Complicated Grief in the diagnosis of prolonged or complicated grief disorders due to its high sensitivity and specificity values. Further evaluations are needed for the use of Prolonged Grief Disorder-13 and Inventory of Complicated Grief-Revised. REGISTRATION: The study is registered with the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/bs8n6/?view_only=109e76e59efb4d7699153f62564f57ed). Tweetable abstract: Inventory of Complicated Grief is a highly recommend instrument with high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing grief disorders.

Protection procedures and preventions against the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 in healthcare settings for nursing personnel: Lessons from Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: Since coronavirus disease 2019 was first discovered, at the time of writing this article, the number of people infected globally has exceeded 1 million. Its high transmission rate has resulted in nosocomial infections in healthcare facilities all over the world. Nursing personnel account for nearly 50% of the global health workforce and are the primary provider of direct care in hospitals and long-term care facilities. Nurses stand on the front line against the spread of this pandemic, and proper protection procedures are vital. OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to share the procedures and measures used by Taiwan nursing personnel to help reduce global transmission. REVIEW METHODS: Compared with other regions, where large-scale epidemics have overwhelmed the health systems, Taiwan has maintained the number of confirmed cases within a manageable scope. A review of various national and international policies and guidelines was carried out to present proper procedures and preventions for nursing personnel in healthcare settings. RESULTS: This study shows how Taiwan's health system rapidly identified suspected cases as well as the prevention policies and strategies, key protection points for nursing personnel in implementing high-risk nursing tasks, and lessons from a nursing perspective. CONCLUSIONS: Various world media have affirmed the rapid response and effective epidemic prevention strategies of Taiwan's health system. Educating nurses on procedures for infection control, reporting cases, and implementing protective measures to prevent nosocomial infections are critical to prevent further outbreaks.

The effectiveness of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing toward anxiety disorder: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has been well established as an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, PTSD has been re-categorized as part of trauma and stressor-related disorders instead of anxiety disorders. We conducted the first meta-analysis on Randomized Controlled Trials to evaluate the effectiveness of EMDR on reducing symptoms of anxiety disorders. METHODS: A manual and systematic search using various databases and reference lists of systematic review articles published up to December 2018 was conducted. The symptoms of anxiety, phobia, panic, traumatic feelings and behaviors/somatic symptoms were examined. Hedges' g effect sizes were computed, and random effect models were used for all analyses. RESULTS: A total of 17 trials with 647 participants were included in this meta-analysis. EMDR was associated with a significant reduction of anxiety (g = -0.71; 95% CI: -0.96 to -0.47), panic (g = -0.62; 95% CI: -1.10 to -0.14), phobia (g = -0.45; 95% CI: -0.81 to -0.08), behavioural/somatic symptoms (g = -0.40; 95% CI: -0.63 to -0.12), but not traumatic feelings (g = -0.48; 95% CI: -1.14 to -0.18). Subgroup analysis revealed greater effects of EMDR if compared to passive control. However, the effects were not significantly different based on the duration, number of therapy sessions, or the number of weekly sessions. CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis indicates that EMDR is efficacious for reducing symptoms of anxiety, panic, phobia, and behavioural/somatic symptoms. Further research is needed to explore EMDR's long term efficacy on anxiety disorders.