Publications by authors named "Sara Gostoli"

: Promoting sustainable eating is gaining increasing attention, yet the transition from intentions to actual behaviors remains unclear. This study compares the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the theory of behavioral choice (TBC) in predicting such intentions and examines the moderating role of distress, psychological well-being, and dysfunctional eating styles in the intention-behavior relationship. : A total of 223 participants from the general population (29.

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Introduction: Given their immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory properties, corticosteroids are widely used. However, corticosteroid-induced psychiatric effects are deeply concerning, since they can be severe and require accurate differential diagnosis from primary psychiatric disorders. Among corticosteroid-induced psychiatric symptoms, what kind of patients under corticosteroids develop manic and/or psychotic symptoms and which risk factors are associated with their development remain unclear.

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Objective: This study aimed at identifying correlates of demoralization in breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: Information was obtained from outpatients with breast cancer at the Oncology Clinic of a university-affiliated hospital in the United States, using reliable and valid scales, and from the participants' medical records on demographic and social characteristics, location, type, and stage of cancer, whether it was a re-occurrence or first time diagnosed, type of cancer treatment, medications being used, history of mental disorder, functional impairment, perceived stress, perceived social support, resilience, subjective incompetence, demoralization, and depression. Demoralization was measured with the Demoralization Scale.

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Background: Non-sustainable diets are associated with several environmental and health-related problems. Psychology research is interested in the study of food choice determinants, and several theoretical frameworks have been applied to study mechanisms underlying behavioral change and to develop theory-based interventions. The present systematic review is aimed at reviewing the existing literature on the psychological theoretical frameworks used to study sustainable and/or healthy food choices and their application for the development of interventions promoting such food choices, both in general and clinical populations.

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Background: There are few studies investigating patients' needs in healthcare focusing on disease severity and psychological characteristics of elderly heart failure (HF) patients with multimorbidity, specifically addressed by a care manager (CM).

Aims: To explore the role of a CM dealing with elderly multimorbid HF patients' needs/preferences according to NYHA class, ejection fraction, psychological/psychosomatic distress and quality of life (QoL), utilizing a Blended Collaborative Care (BCC) approach (ESCAPE; Grant agreement No 945377).

Methods: Cue cards, self-reported questionnaires, and a semi-structured interview were used to collect data.

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Background: Literature emphasises the importance of identifying and intervening in the adoption of unhealthy lifestyle behaviours (ULBs) during adolescence at an early stage, to mitigate their long-term detrimental effects. Among the possible associated factors contributing to ULBs, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been shown to play an important role. However, little is known about ADHD subclinical manifestations.

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Article Synopsis
  • Early recognition of psychosomatic symptoms in patients with HPV is necessary to prevent negative outcomes in clinics.
  • A study analyzed 504 individuals to compare the prevalence of psychosomatic syndromes and mental health diagnoses between HPV-positive and negative patients, finding a much higher incidence in the HPV-positive group.
  • Results showed that increased fear is a significant independent risk factor for developing psychosomatic syndromes in HPV-positive women, suggesting it could be a quick screening tool in clinical settings.
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Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors (ULBs) are common in early adolescence and could be worsened by Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), as well as by specific psychosocial factors, such as stress and unbalanced (i.e., too high or low scores of) psychological well-being (PWB) dimensions.

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Psychological characterization of patients affected by Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) focuses on comorbidity with psychiatric disorders, somatization or alexithymia. Whereas IBD patients had higher risk of stable anxiety and depression for many years after the diagnosis of the disease, there is a lack of studies reporting a comprehensive psychosomatic assessment addressing factors of disease vulnerability, also in the long-term. The objective of this investigation is to fill this gap in the current literature.

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Introduction: Few studies explored healthcare needs of elderly heart failure (HF) patients with comorbidities in view of a personalized intervention conducted by Care Managers (CM) in the framework of Blended Collaborative Care (BCC). The aims of the present study were to: (1) identify perceived healthcare needs/preferences in elderly patients with HF prior to a CM intervention; (2) investigate possible associations between healthcare needs/preferences, sociodemographic variables (age; sex) and number of comorbidities.

Method: Patients aged 65 years or more affected by HF with at least 2 medical comorbidities were enrolled in the study.

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Purpose Of Review: Around 80-90% of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are overweight or obese, presenting a greater risk for serious health complications and mortality. Thus, weight loss represents a main goal for T2DM management. Although behavioral lifestyle interventions (BLIs) could help promoting weight loss in T2DM patients with overweight or obesity, their effectiveness is still controversial.

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Background/objective: Although demoralization is associated with morbidity and mortality in cardiac settings, its treatment has been overlooked. The present randomized controlled trial aimed at 1) evaluating the effectiveness of sequential combination of Cognitive-Behavioral and Well-Being therapies (CBT/WBT), compared to Clinical Management (CM), on demoralization among Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) patients, at post-treatment and after 3 months; 2) examining ACS patients' characteristics predicting demoralization persistence at 3-month follow-up.

Method: 91 demoralized ACS patients were randomized to CBT/WBT ( = 47) or CM ( = 44).

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This retrospective observational study on hospital staff requesting an "application visit" (from 2017 to 2022) at the Occupational Medicine department aimed at comparing a "pre-COVID group" (2017-2019) with a "COVID group" (2020-2022) regarding (a) sociodemographic data (i.e., age, sex, occupation, years of employment at the hospital), (b) rate and type of psychiatric diagnoses in both groups and rate of psychiatric diagnoses per subject, and (c) rate of drug/psychotherapeutic prescriptions.

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Introduction: Involving patients and carers in the development of blended collaborative care (BCC) interventions for multimorbid heart failure (HF) patients is recommended but rarely practised, and research on the patient perspective is scarce. The aim of this study is to investigate patients' and carers' care-related needs and preferences to better customize a novel international BCC intervention.

Methods: A qualitative study design using framework analysis was employed.

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The impact of recurrent traumatic experiences during childhood may impede the integration of mentalization abilities and lead to psychopathology. Recently, the Failure to Mentalize Trauma Questionnaire (FMTQ), a comprehensive 29-item self-report scale aimed at identifying deficits in mentalization arising from childhood trauma, was developed. However, the length of the FMTQ may render it impractical for epidemiological studies involving multiple variables and measures.

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Unhealthy lifestyle, such as alcohol use, and negative health outcomes have been associated with impairments in psychological well-being. The primary objective of the study was to test the efficacy of an intervention based on Well-Being Therapy to prevent or stem alcohol use, binge drinking and other unhealthy lifestyle among Italian adolescents in school settings. A three-arm cluster randomized controlled trial including three test periods (baseline, post-test, six-month follow-up) was implemented.

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Objective: Type D personality, a joint tendency toward negative affectivity and social inhibition, has been linked to adverse events in patients with heart disease, although with inconsistent findings. Here, we apply an individual patient-data meta-analysis to data from 19 prospective cohort studies ( N = 11,151) to investigate the prediction of adverse outcomes by type D personality in patients with acquired cardiovascular disease.

Method: For each outcome (all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass grafting, percutaneous coronary intervention, major adverse cardiac event, any adverse event), we estimated type D's prognostic influence and the moderation by age, sex, and disease type.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers are studying if combining a diet and exercise program with therapy for mental well-being can help people lose weight better than just the diet and exercise alone.
  • They included 83 people who are overweight, split into two groups: one did the diet and exercise program only, and the other did that plus therapy for four weeks.
  • Both groups lost weight, but the group that did therapy also felt better emotionally and had improved self-confidence, showing that therapy might help in ways other than just weight loss.
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Objective: This pilot randomized controlled trial evaluates the preliminary efficacy of a 4-month well-being therapy (WBT) and lifestyle intervention among adults with type 2 diabetes and overweight/obesity.

Methods: Fifty-eight patients were recruited from two outpatient clinics and randomized to receive the WBT-lifestyle intervention or the lifestyle intervention alone. Data were collected at baseline (T0), immediate postintervention (T1), 6-month follow-up (T2), and 12-month follow-up (T3).

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This retrospective observational study investigated hospital staff requests for job fitness visits, addressed to occupational medicine. Specific objectives were to analyze: (1) health workers’ requests, sociodemographic characteristics, psychiatric diagnoses, assigned doctor’s fit notes, and (orthopedic, psychiatric) limitations; (2) associations between psychiatric diagnoses, sociodemographic (sex, age), and work-related (job, department) characteristics; (3) associations between the same psychiatric diagnoses/orthopedic limitations, fit notes, and/or psychiatric limitations. Data of St.

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Introduction: Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is a condition characterised by dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, lack of nutrition and at least 5% loss in body weight, occurring in the first half of pregnancy. The aim of this trial is to examine the efficacy of group biofeedback treatment on patients with HG with psychosomatic symptoms, which will be evaluated through the revised version of Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research (DCPR-R).

Methods And Analysis: In this single-blinded randomised controlled clinical trial, 68 patients with HG diagnosed with at least one psychosomatic syndrome according to DCPR-R and aged 18-40 years, will be recruited in a Chinese Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

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Article Synopsis
  • There was a study to see how feeling good mentally (psychological well-being) affects weight loss in people who are trying to lose weight.
  • Out of 96 participants, about 30.5% successfully lost 5% of their body weight by the end of a lifestyle program.
  • The study found that if someone felt too much autonomy (independence) or discomfort, they were less likely to lose weight, suggesting that mental health support might help in weight loss programs.
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Background: The clinical value of the identification of mood disorders in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is well established. However, assessment based on DSM criteria presents some limitations. This study aimed to provide an innovative strategy for evaluating the spectrum of mood disturbances in ACS.

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Few studies have investigated psychosocial characteristics and lifestyle behaviors of participants at programs for secondary prevention of colorectal cancer (CRC). This study aimed, through a comprehensive psychosomatic assessment based on clinimetric principles, to evaluate psychosocial characteristics and lifestyle behaviors in participants at CRC secondary prevention program, and to investigate the associations between these variables and endoscopic outcomes. In this cross-sectional study, the first 150 consecutive asymptomatic participants at the CRC prevention program who resulted positive to fecal occult blood test (FOBT) and were thus referred to colonoscopy, underwent a psychosomatic assessment including psychiatric diagnoses (DSM-5), psychosomatic syndromes (DCPR-R), psychological distress, psychological well-being and lifestyle behaviors.

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