Depression is one of the most prevalent mental health problems and measuring depressive symptoms becomes increasingly important in science as well as medical practice. Computer Adaptive Tests (CAT) based on the Item Response Theory (IRT) promise to enhance measurement precision and reduce respondent’s burden. Our aim was to develop a CAT application to measure depressive symptoms. Three thousand two hundred seventy psychosomatic patients answered an overall of 11 mental health questionnaires at the University Clinic in Berlin. Three independent reviewers rated 144 items out of these questionnaires as indicative of depressive symptoms. All items underwent six empirical steps to analyze unidimensionality, local independence and item discrimination. Finally 64 items could be used to calculate item parameters applying a Generalized Partial Credit Model (GPCM). CAT scores were estimated using an ‘expected a posteriori’ algorithm (EAP). Two simulation experiments showed that for theta values within the range of 2SD around the mean (98% of the cases), the latent trait can be estimated out of approximately six items with a predefined standard error of ⩽ 0.32 (reliability ρ ⩾ 0.90). The CAT-scores correlated high with scores of all depression items (r = 0.95), with the Beck Depression Inventory (r = 0.79) and with a CES-D 8 item short form (r = 0.76). We conclude that the Depression-CAT measures depressive symptoms with high precision and low respondent burden.

Development of a computer-adaptive test for depression (D-CAT).

https://www.journal-of-hepatology.eu/article/S0168-8278(08)00048-2/pdf

Quality of life after liver transplantation. A systematic review

https://aasldpubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1053/jlts.2002.34896

Donor evaluation, donor risks, donor outcome, and donor quality of life in adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation.

https://aasldpubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/lt.22181

Quality of life for donors after living donor liver transplantation: a review of the literature.

Living donor adult liver transplantation: a longitudinal study of the donor's quality of life.

In view of the scarcity of organ resources available for transplantation, living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is gaining growing importance in the treatment of chronically terminal liver diseases. In the period between December 1999 and October 2000, 47 potential living liver donors were evaluated and 24 right hepatic lobes and two left lateral segments were transplanted at the Virchow-Klinikum of the Charite Hospital in Berlin. The present study looks into biomedical and psychosocial parameters of 23 donors before and 6 months after LDLT. Our aims were to investigate the development of psychosocial parameters after donation and the relationship between psychosocial findings and post-operative complications. Most donors showed an improved quality of life (QoL) after LDLT when compared with pre-operative results. Twenty-six percent of donors show high values for 'tiredness', 'fatigue' and 'limb pain' following donation. The post-operative complications had no influence on the psychosocial outcome. In this pilot study the resection of the right hepatic lobe amounts to a safe operation for donors and holds promise of a good psychosocial outcome for most donors, irrespective of donation-related complications. The pronounced complaints appears to indicate psychological tension and distress in some donors following donation.

Psychosocial outcome of living donors after living donor liver transplantation: a pilot study.

In view of the scarcity of organ resources for transplantation, donation by living donors is assuming greater significance now that the technical-surgical problems involved have been solved. In the period between December 1999 and December 2000, 47 potential living liver donors were evaluated and a total of 27 hepatic lobes were transplanted at the Virchow-Klinikum of the Charite Hospital in Berlin. The close personal relationships between recipients and donors gives reason to anticipate high levels of psychosocial pressure during the pre-operative evaluation process; this process consists in part in looking into donor motivation, ambivalence and anxiety. The pre-operative psychometric evaluation of 40 potential living donors indicated that most of the potential donors see themselves as 'super-healthy' and tend to adapt to social expectations, while on the other hand those seven potential living donors not accepted for psychosocial reasons were marked by heightened values for anxious depression and pessimism. The results indicate in most cases a great willingness to donate and on the other hand a high level of obvious psychological pressure for a low number of potential donors. For the latter, both the clinical evaluation interview and the psychometric diagnostics used revealed clear-cut feelings of anxiety and ambivalence towards transplantation.

Psychosocial data of potential living donors before living donor liver transplantation.

. The outcome of in-patient psychosomatic treatment was evaluated by longitudinal assessment at hospital admission, discharge, and 1-year-follow-up. Out of n = 1829 patients, n = 712 responded (38.9 %). Response rates co-varied with duration of in-patient treatment. Responder-analyses characterise the sample as fairly representative. Outcome criteria included standardised measures of complaints, mood quality, global quality of life, life satisfaction, everyday functioning, and social integration. Disease-related parameters (duration of illness, medical certification, number of doctors consulted, number of somatic resp. psychosocial diagnoses) and generalised outcome expectancies (self-efficacy, optimism, pessimism) were included as predictors. Patients' retrospective estimations at follow-up as well as longitudinal assessments show a successful and mostly stable therapy outcome. Negative moods and complaints show a new increase at follow-up, though, still remaining below the level at hospital admission. Although there is much accordance among the diagnostic groups, patients with anxiety disorders (ICD-10: F40/41) and patients with adaptation disorders (F43) show distinctly varying courses. Regression analyses yield specific correlations between disease-related parameters and long-term outcome: Duration of treatment does not predict treatment outcome. The number of somatic diagnoses is a predictor of complaints, the number of psychosocial diagnoses a predictor of negative moods at follow-up. Pessimism and - to a lesser degree - self-efficacy prove to significantly predict numerous outcome criteria. Generalised expectancies should be considered in the process of prognosis and differential indication.

Prädiktoren des Behandlungsergebnisses stationärer psychosomatischer Therapie

The domain of body image plays a central role in the quality of life of patients with haematological malignancies and metastasized cancer, since the disease itself as well as the enrolled therapies interfere with psychological and bodily well-being. We approached this highly subjective field by using the repertory grid technique and hypothesized that patients would display a restricted body image, focusing on functional aspects of the body. In all, 55 in-patients (27 men, 28 women, M age = 45.7 yrs, N = 46 with haematological malignancies, N = 9 with metastasized cancer), at the time of initial diagnosis, were included in the study and assessed with the Body Grid, an instrument specifically designed by us for the exploration of body image. The data were analysed by principal component analysis (PCA) and construct categorization. Further, 42 chronic tinnitus sufferers (20 male, 22 female, M age = 46.5 yrs) served as a comparison group. Based on the constructs elicited, six construct categories were formulated in the sense of a first attempt of a hierarchical model (emotion, control, activity, strength, function, appearance). The central constructs (373 construct pairs) were assigned to these categories by three inter-raters. The categories appeared in the following order of frequency: function (27.1%), emotion (20.4%), strength (20.1%), activity (15%), control (10.2%) and appearance (7.2%). PCA indicated that the patients mainly demonstrated a restricted view of their body. In the tinnitus group, the most frequent category proved to be activity (21.3%), closely followed by function (21.1%) and control (20.9%). The body image was also restricted (PCA). The restriction of body image, together with the specific construct choice, seen in the haematology and cancer patients reflects the existential threat of the disease and may serve as a coping strategy. The high percentage of emotional constructs may mirror the patients' need for further support. The distinct distribution of construct categories in the two different patient samples supports the applicability of the proposed preliminary model.

Body experience and mental representation of body image in patients with haematological malignancies and cancer as assessed with the Body Grid.

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Psychosocial outcome of living donors after living donor liver transplantation: a pilot study.

Psychosocial data of potential living donors before living donor liver transplantation.

Prädiktoren des Behandlungsergebnisses stationärer psychosomatischer Therapie

Body experience and mental representation of body image in patients with haematological malignancies and cancer as assessed with the Body Grid.