Alcohol-dependent patients usually experience negative affects under the influence of alcohol, and these affective symptoms have been shown to decrease as a result of alcohol-withdrawal treatment. A recent cognitive-affective model suggests an interaction between drug motivation and affective symptoms. The aim of this multicenter study was to evaluate the psychological changes in subjects undergoing a residential rehabilitation program specifically designed for alcohol addiction, and to identify at discharge patients with greater affective symptoms and therefore more at risk of relapse.The sample included 560 subjects (mean age 46.91±10.2 years) who completed 28-day rehabilitation programs for alcohol addiction, following a tailored routine characterized by short duration and high intensity of medical and psychotherapeutic treatment. The psychological clinical profiles of anxiety, depression, psychological distress, psychological well-being, and self-perception of a positive change were assessed using the Cognitive Behavioral Assessment - Outcome Evaluation questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the program. The changes in the psychological variables of the questionnaire were identified and considered as outcome evaluation of the residential intervention. Moreover, differences in the psychological functioning between patients with different characteristics were investigated.The score measured by the Cognitive Behavioral Assessment - Outcome Evaluation showed significant improvements in all the psychological characteristics assessed, and the profile at discharge was within the normal scores. Some significant differences were found in relation to specific characteristics of the sample, such as age, sex, level of education, type of intervention, and polysubstance use.This study shows the changes in psychological profile in subjects undergoing residential rehabilitation from alcohol and how this profile may permit identification of subjects requiring more psychosocial support after discharge.
Satisfaction with care, functional and cognitive status, life satisfaction, anxiety, and sociodemographic variables were correlated in 55 in-patients admitted to a rehabilitation unit after hip or knee surgery. The study aimed at investigating whether, as an index of care quality, patient satisfaction can be considered as a distinct domain or instead is subsidiary to other patient characteristics. Patient satisfaction with rehabilitation care was measured through a questionnaire, SAT-16. The SAT-16 scores were moderately correlated with a short form of the Life Satisfaction Index (LSI-11: rs = 0.41, p = 0.001), but did not correlate with either the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), the STAI form X (the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), age or educational level. According to the "discrepancy model", the fair degree of correlation between SAT-16 and LSI-11 could be explained by connecting both expressions of satisfaction with personal background expectations and their perceived degree of fulfilment. The results confirm, also for rehabilitation care, that patient satisfaction should be considered as a valuable specific outcome, independent of most of the patient characteristics investigated (functional and cognitive status, anxiety, age, and education).
The aim of this study was to perform a psychometric analysis of the Italian Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Revised version (FIQR), using both classical test theory (CTT) and Rasch analysis (RA) in order to better analyze its construct validity and provide a rational basis for a possible improvement of its metric quality.
Methods
The study involved 503 patients with fibromyalgia (FM) (423 women and 80 men) with mean age of 51.3 ± 10.1 years (range 19-74) and mean duration of symptoms of 11.1 ± 8.7 years (range 1-30). All patients completed the Italian FIQR during their clinical visit. The translation and cultural adaptation process of the Italian FIQR followed the published guidelines and no local adjustments were made except for a slight adaptation of item 13 related to "energy".
Results
Factor Analysis revealed two salient dimensions: function (items 1-9) and symptoms (items 12-21). RA was thus performed on these two subscales. Rating scale diagnostics suggested collapsing the eleven rating categories of the scale into five. After combining these rating categories, RA showed that most items of each of the two subscales fitted the respective constructs to measure (MnSq 0.7-1.3). The reliability levels of the two subscales were higher than 0.80.
Conclusions
This study provides psychometric evidence of the reliability, internal validity andtwo-dimensional structure of the FIQR in a FM population. Our results support the useof two separate subscales for "function" and "symptoms", and provide a useful starting point for further refinement of the scale.
