Patients Suffering from a Chronic, Irreversible Illness: A Novel Study on the Psychological Intervention out of the Hospital

Objective: Patients with chronic, untreatable diseases have emotional needs that are often unaddressed by conventional care services within the healthcare systems. The situation of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is paradigmatic as there are few, if any, studies focusing on psychological interventions for these patients. This chapter describes a study that identifies and quantifies emotional distress, quality of life, spirituality, and key dimensions of health-related well-being after brief psychotherapy treatments at an outpatient clinic.

Psychological Profile of Patients Diagnosed With Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Development and Validation of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROM) and Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREM) in Home Respiratory Therapies: Oxygen Therapy, CPAP Treatment, Mechanical Ventilation, and Aerosol Therapy

Introduction: Home respiratory therapies (HRT) are treatments aimed at diseases that are generally chronic and that have a significant impact on the biopsychosocial aspects of patients’ lives. No validated patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) and patient-reported experience measures (PREM) are available to assess the impact of these treatments on quality of life (QoL) in HRT. The objective of this work was to identify and validate PROMs and PREMs in HRT. Methods: The process was divided into 5 stages: review of the literature, patient interviews, qualitative validation workshops, cognitive validation, and psychometric validation. For the identification of PROM and PREM, consensus techni…

Development and Validation of the OSA-CPAP Perceived Competence Evaluation Interview

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is one of the most common therapies for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). We present a brief, patient-reported outcome measure used to assess patients' levels of adherence with CPAP treatment.A questionnaire was developed based on academic literature. We qualitatively tested a pool of 18 items. It was tested in a sample of 174 patients from the Hospital La Princesa. Next, 1021 patients from Catalonia were evaluated.5 items were removed. Nominal groups referred to three areas: general knowledge about OSA and its risks; CPAP treatment information and expectations; CPAP use, monitoring, and confidence with its use. The 13 retained items maintained the sa…

COVID-19 severity associates with pulmonary redistribution of CD1c+ DCs and inflammatory transitional and nonclassical monocytes

SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for the development of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in infected individuals, who can either exhibit mild symptoms or progress toward a life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Exacerbated inflammation and dysregulated immune responses involving T and myeloid cells occur in COVID-19 patients with severe clinical progression. However, the differential contribution of specific subsets of dendritic cells and monocytes to ARDS is still poorly understood. In addition, the role of CD8+ T cells present in the lung of COVID-19 patients and relevant for viral control has not been characterized. Here, we have studied the frequencies and activation p…