María de los Ángeles Pérez San Gregorio

Psychosocial adaptation in relatives of critically injured patients admitted to an intensive care unit

The aim of this study is to analyze how the length of time a patient spends in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) affects close relatives, with regard to specific clinical variables of personality, family relationships and fear of death. The study group consisted of 57 relatives of seriously ill patients admitted to the ICU of “Virgen del Rocio” Rehabilitation and Trauma Hospital (Seville, Spain). The instruments applied were: a psychosocial questionnaire, clinical analysis questionnaire, family environment scale and fear of death scale. The relatives of patients admitted to ICU obtained higher scores in hypochondria, suicidal depression, agitation, anxious depression, guilt-resentment, paranoia, psychasthenia, psychological maladjustment and self-expression, and less in fear of their own death, as when compared to interviews with the same relatives 4 years later. The length of time a patient spent in the ICU influenced relatives in some clinical variables of personality, family relationships and fear of death.

AIDS and Social Exclusion: Personality Features or Adaptive Behaviors?

The purpose of this survey is to detect common personality features in people infected with AIDS who have a case history of drug addiction and who live in a situation of social exclusion. The sample comprised 105 male participants from the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, divided into 4 groups: (a) 30 men with AIDS, having an intravenous drug addiction case history and who live in a condition of social exclusion; (b) 30 men with IVDA case history, also living in a situation of social exclusion; (c) 15 men in a social exclusion condition; and (d) 30 men in a condition of social adaptation. The evaluation instruments were an author-designed semi-structured interview and the Multiaxial Clinical Inventory (MCMI-II; Millon, 1987). Although some differences were found, the results indicate that there is no specific personality profile in the “social exclusion” population. People in a condition of social exclusion (AIDS, drug addicts, and poor people) may obtain similar scores in the variables studied, but there is no clear specific personality profile in the excluded population, although there may be certain situations in which the segregated groups present similar behaviors. Furthermore, these behaviors do not always correspond to personality features but are adaptive responses to a harsh and complex reality.

Psychological differences of patients and relatives

El objetivo de esta investigacion es analizar las diferencias psicologicas en pacientes y familiares en funcion de la ansiedad post-trasplante. Seleccionamos dos grupos: 166 trasplantados y los 166 familiares mas allegados de estos pacientes. Empleamos una Encuesta Psicosocial (en ambos grupos), la Escala de Ansiedad y Depresion en Hospital y el Cuestionario de Calidad de Vida (en el grupo de trasplantados) y las Escalas de Ansiedad y Depresion de Leeds (en el grupo de familiares). La evaluacion psicologica se realizo en dos fases: post-UCI (cuando a los pacientes se les daba el alta de la UCI pero continuaban ingresados en el hospital, concretamente, en la Unidad de Trasplantes) y post-hospitalaria (cuando transcurria un ano del alta hospitalaria de los pacientes tras el implante). Los resultados mostraron que un nivel alto de ansiedad en los pacientes tras el trasplante, aumentaba al ano la sintomatologia ansiosa y depresiva de los pacientes y de sus familiares y, ademas, empeoraba la calidad de vida de los trasplantados.