Publications by authors named "Ana Tibubos"

Background: Psychoeducation positively influences the psychological components of chronic low back pain (CLBP) in conventional treatments. The digitalization of health care has led to the discussion of virtual reality (VR) interventions. However, CLBP treatments in VR have some limitations due to full immersion.

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Background: Satisfaction with life is a key concept for most individuals. The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) for measuring general life satisfaction has been widely analyzed in terms of cross-sectional associations. However, the knowledge about long-term changes in life satisfaction and the associations between such changes and changes in other variables of physical and mental health is limited.

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Objective: Cancer patients frequently report sleep problems. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is a 19-item instrument for assessing sleep problems. The main objective of this study was to analyze the usefulness of the PSQI in oncological research.

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The "Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)" is a screening instrument, designed for time-efficient detection and severity assessment of depression, anxiety, and other syndromes in medical settings. Besides the questions on psychological symptoms, there are items on psychosocial functioning, on stressors and critical life events. However, for the stress items there are no psychometric properties available until now.

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Background: Symptoms of depersonalization (DP) and derealization (DR) are a risk factor for more severe impairment, non-response to various treatments, and a chronic course. In this study, we investigated the effects of DP/DR symptoms in patients with clinically significant depressive symptoms on clinical characteristics and various outcomes in a representative population-based sample with a 5-year follow-up.

Methods: The middle-aged sample comprised n = 10,422 persons at baseline, of whom n = 9,301 were free from depressive and DP/DR symptoms.

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(1) Background: Cigarette smoking, risky alcohol consumption, and marijuana smoking are the most common behaviors related to legal and illicit drug use worldwide, including among university students. To plan effective evidence-based programs to prevent the risky consumption of these substances among university students, the present study aimed to identify potential sociodemographic and study-related risk groups and predictors of consumption. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional online health survey with approximately 270 health-related items was conducted among students at the University of Mainz, Germany.

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Background: Students were at an increased risk for elevated mental symptoms during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels. As universities remained closed much longer than anticipated, the mental burden was expected to persist through the second year of the pandemic. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of mental distress from 2019 through 2021 and identify risk factors for elevated mental burden, focusing on gender.

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Background: The present study aimed to investigate how depressive symptoms affect bodyweight change (gain and loss), and how this association is intertwined with other psychosocial and biomedical factors in the adult general population.

Methods: In a population-based, prospective, observational single-center cohort study in the Rhine-Main-Region, Germany (Gutenberg Health Study GHS) with N = 12,220 participants, we analyzed baseline and five year follow-up data with logistic regressions separately for bodyweight gain and loss (vs. stable bodyweight).

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Aim: The present study investigated regional differences in response behaviour for the Patient Health Quetionnaire-9. We tested for measurement invariance and differential item and test functioning between formerly divided East- and West-Germany: the former German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany. Diverging socialization experiences in socialist versus capitalist and collectivist versus individualist systems may affect culturally sensitive assessments of mental health.

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Our research provides competing hypotheses and empirical evidence how associations between objectively social isolation and subjective loneliness differ between host populations, migrants, and refugees. The analysis uses data of 25,171 participants from a random sample of the German population (SOEP v.35).

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Research: Question How did the general and area specific life satisfaction evolve between East and West Germany between 1991 and 2020?

Methods: Based on three representative surveys in the years 1991, 2006 and 2020 life satisfaction between East and West Germany was examined using mean comparison with tests of significance. The influence of relevant sociodemographic variables was calculated using Univariate Variance Analyses.

Results: 1991 large differences in the general life satisfaction as well as with satisfaction in the areas of living, spare time, health, finances and occupational did occur, with people in East Germany reporting to be less satisfied.

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Results from a population-based study suggest sex-specific patterns of self-reported child maltreatment, more frequently reported in former West than East Germany. Aim of the current study was to examine these patterns in two regional samples of the former East- (SHIP, 2008 - 2012) and West German (KORA, 2013 - 2014) population. Child maltreatment was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Screener (CTS).

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Background: Physical inactivity and sedentary behavior are modifiable risk factors for an unhealthy lifestyle in university students. The aim of this study was to identify subgroups among German university students with an increased risk for unhealthy behavior. For this purpose, differences in physical activity and sedentary behavior with respect to sociodemographic and study related factors were examined.

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Job crafting has been established as a bottom-up work design instrument for promoting health and well-being in the workplace. In recent years, the concepts of job crafting have been applied to the university student context, proving to be positively related to student well-being. Building on person-centered analyses from the employment context, we assessed approach study crafting strategy combinations and the relationships to students' exhaustion, study engagement, and general well-being.

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Purpose: Cross-sectional studies found high levels of depression and anxiety symptoms, and loneliness during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reported increases were lower in longitudinal population-based findings. Studies including positive outcomes are rare.

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Background: Depression, the most frequent and harmful mental disorder, has been associated with specific somatic diseases as the leading cause of death. The purposes of this prospective study were to predict incident chronic diseases based on baseline depressive symptoms and to test sex-dependent effects.

Methods: In a representative German community sample of over 12 000 participants, baseline depressive symptoms (assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9) were tested as a predictor of new onset of cardiovascular disease (CVD), chronic obstructive lung disease, diabetes, cancer, and migraine at 5-year follow-up.

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Mental health differences between men and women can be attributed to sex or gender. Due to absence of brief assessments, contributions of gender expressions to the mental health gap between men and women have been understudied. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a short screening measure of gender expression and test its associations with mental distress.

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Self-criticism is a stable personality trait identified as a serious risk factor for psychopathology and weight-related health problems. Therefore, it is relevant to epidemiological research, which requires a relatively brief instrument for measuring trait self-criticism in the general population. The current study introduces a brief measure of self-criticism and presents empirical results that inform on its reliability and validity.

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Aiming to develop and implement intervention strategies targeting pharmacological neuroenhancement (PN) among university students more specifically, we (1) assessed the prevalence of PN among German university students, (2) identified potential sociodemographic and study-related risk groups, and (3) investigated sociodemographic, psychological, study-related psychosocial, general psychosocial and health behavior related factors predicting the 12-month prevalence of PN. Therefore, a cross-sectional online survey was administered to students of the University of Mainz, Germany. A binary logistic regression with stepwise inclusion of the five variable groups was performed to predict PN.

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Objective: Investigating the effects of internal migration on somatoform complaints (GBB-8) as well as psychological distress (PHQ-4; captures symptoms of anxiety and depression).

Methods: A representative sample from 2019 is used and divided into four groups (West, East, East-West, West-East). A variance analysis was conducted.

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The COVID-19 pandemic led to a shutdown of universities in Germany. In a longitudinal design, we compared mental health (depression, anxiety, somatic complaints) of university students in Germany before (June to August 2019) and in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic (June 2020) and determined the impact of pandemic-related stress and loneliness on students' mental health in self-report online surveys. We investigated 443 participants (mean age 22.

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