Referrals For Gender-Affirming Hormone Treatment in Croatia's National Network for Transgender Healthcare.

A network of healthcare professionals specializing in transgender care was established in Croatia in 2011, and legal advancements were subsequently made in 2014. Both achievements made gender transition more transparent and thus more attainable in Croatia. This observational study was conducted to assess the number of transgender individuals initiating gender-affirming hormone treatment (GAHT) in Croatia and describes trends in age and sex assigned at birth.

Understanding cyberchondria in pregnant women: longitudinal assessment of risk factors, triggers, and outcomes.

Pregnancy often triggers anxiety and health concerns in women, leading many to search for health information online. Excessive, compulsive, and repetitive online health research, accompanied by heightened anxiety, can result in cyberchondria. This study aimed to explore the risk factors, triggers, and outcomes of cyberchondria in pregnant women.

Fear of Becoming Infected and Fear of Doing the Wrong Thing - Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Further Validation of the Multidimensional Assessment of COVID-19-Related Fears (MAC-RF).

Background: With the COVID-19 infection speeding around the world, many experience fear and anxiety. To detect those at risk of psychopathology and provide treatment, valid instruments are needed. The aim of this study was to cross-culturally validate the theory-based instrument Multidimensional Assessment of COVID-19-Related Fears (MAC-RF) in Croatian and to further examine the scale's validity by exploring its relationship with relevant constructs.

mSexHealth: An Overview of Mobile Sexual Health Applications.

The aim of this study was to examine the existing mobile applications focused on sexual health and analyze the included content and therapeutic techniques. Three databases with mobile applications were searched and 47 applications met the criteria. More applications have been developed for men, most of them included content for erectile dysfunction, and only one for vaginismus.

The Role of Personality Traits and Delivery Experience in Fear of Childbirth: A Prospective Study.

This study aimed to examine fear of childbirth (FOC) before and after delivery in relation to personality (anxiety and anxiety sensitivity) and birth experience (type of delivery, pain, and staff support). One-hundred and five women completed questionnaires during pregnancy and one month after childbirth. Participants completed the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire; the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory and Anxiety Sensitivity Index, and the McGill Pain Questionnaire and a Support from staff questionnaire.

How the COVID-19 pandemic affects transgender health care - A cross-sectional online survey in 63 upper-middle-income and high-income countries.

Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, access to medical care is restricted for nearly all non-acute conditions. Due to their status as a vulnerable social group and the inherent need for transition-related treatments, transgender people are assumed to be affected particularly severely by the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: As an ad hoc collaboration between researchers, clinicians and 23 community organizations, we developed a web-based survey in German that was translated into 26 languages.

The Nocebo Effect: A Review of Contemporary Experimental Research.

Background: Nocebo effect, the occurrence of adverse symptoms fallowing an inactive treatment, is much less understood than its opposite, placebo effect. This systematic review of contemporary studies exploring the nocebo effect focuses on (1) the mechanisms underlying the nocebo effect, (2) the characteristics of participants exhibiting a more intensive nocebo response, and (3) the circumstances that might reduce or prevent the nocebo effect.

Method: We included experimental nocebo studies published in English that examined the occurrence of nocebo in various domains (i.

Psychological contribution to understanding the nature of dry eye disease: a cross-sectional study of anxiety sensitivity and dry eyes.

Dry eye disease (DED) represents a common health problem in the general population. Previous studies have demonstrated that the subjective symptoms of dry eye are associated with several psychological factors, including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. However, there is a lack of empirical information about the mechanisms underlying the relationships between DED and various psychological symptoms.

Mental Health of Psychiatrists and Physicians of Other Specialties in Early COVID-19 Pandemic: Risk ind Protective Factors.

Background: Many research has indicated that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, health care workers are under greatly increased pressure and at increased risk for the development of mental health problems. Furthermore, previous research has indicated that psychiatrists are exposed to a number of unique stressors that may increase their risk for poor mental health. The aims of the present study were to assess the level of COVID-19 related concerns, psychological distress and life satisfaction among psychiatrists and other physicians during the first period of the pandemic and to examine whether individual differences in COVID-19 concerns, psychological flexibility, psychological resilience and coping behaviors account for differences in mental health indicators.

Cyberchondria in the age of COVID-19.

The global epidemic of (mis)information, spreading rapidly via social media platforms and other outlets, can be a risk factor for the development of anxiety disorders among vulnerable individuals. Cyberchondria can be a vulnerability factor for developing anxiety in a pandemic situation, particularly when the Internet is flooded with (mis)information. The aim of our study was to examine how cyberchondria is related to changes in levels of COVID-19 concern and safety behaviours among persons living in Croatia during the period in which the first COVID-19 case was identified and when the country recorded its first fatality.

COVID-19: Concerns and behaviours in Croatia.

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has created uncertainty that has heightened fear and worry worldwide, thus elevating the potential for a growth in anxiety. This study aims to examine changes in levels of COVID-19 concern and safety behaviours among persons living in Croatia during the period in which the first COVID-19 case was identified and when the country recorded its first fatality. These changes were examined with respect to gender and family circumstances.

Measuring therapists' attitudes toward integration of technology in psychotherapy and predicting their use of technology.

Objectives: We aimed to develop a measure of psychotherapists' attitudes toward integrating technology in psychotherapy-The Therapists' Attitudes toward using Modern Technologies in Psychotherapy and Counselling Scale (MTPS), to analyze its latent structure and test its reliability and validity.

Method: Items were developed based on interviews with psychotherapists, followed by two online surveys with psychotherapists (N1 = 219; N2 = 369) in five countries in South-eastern Europe.

Results: The MTPS has a 4-factor structure: perceived potential of modern technologies (MTs) to augment therapeutic improvement, perceived psychoeducational value of MTs, perceived risks associated with using MTs, and perceived relevance of MTs.

Evolutionary medicine perspective on coping style and health outcomes: an exploratory study.

One of the issues within the framework of Darwinian medicine is why individuals develop the specific disease they do. Ethologists have long known that within any given population, there are organisms with the tendency towards higher () or lower () aggressiveness, and since the physiological responses to stressful events are different in and it has been suggested that these strategies might be related to health outcomes. The aims of this exploratory study were to determine whether an analogues of and as basic coping strategies could be defined among chronically ill patients and healthy controls and whether the proportion of and differs among different groups of patients.

ADAPTATION AND VALIDATION OF THE CAMBRIDGE PULMONARY HYPERTENSION OUTCOME REVIEW (CAMPHOR) FOR CROATIA.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a chronic disease which severely impairs quality of life (QoL). The Cambridge Pulmonary Hypertension Outcome Review (CAMPHOR) is the first disease-specific tool to assess patient-reported symptoms, functioning and QoL in PH patients. The aim of this study was to adapt and validate the CAMPHOR for use in Croatia.

Are non-pregnant women afraid of childbirth? Prevalence and predictors of fear of childbirth in students.

Fear of childbirth (FOC) has been mostly studied in peripartum women; however, it can be present in non-pregnant young women, and the question is whether it occurs even before pregnancy planning. (1) to determine the prevalence of clinically significant FOC in non-pregnant female students, and (2) to investigate the role of anxiety sensitivity (AS), trait anxiety, childbirth pain expectancy, and sources of birth knowledge for FOC. Non-pregnant female students ( = 374) from different study programmes (health studies, social sciences and humanities, and biotechnical studies) participated in the study.

Dyspnea from Neuropsychyatric Perspective: a Narrative Review.

Dyspnea or breathlessness is a term primarily used in respiratory medicine. Nevertheless, in the last fifteen years, studies from other fields focus on the affective component of this complex phenomenon due to the frequent observation that psychological states can cause or be caused by dyspnea. Research so far shows that besides the biological component, dyspnea has a strong emotional and psychosocial determinant.

The Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire: Measurement invariance and relations to anxiety and depression across 10 countries.

The Looming Maladaptive Style Questionnaire (LMSQ) is a self-report measure designed to assess the looming cognitive style, a tendency to interpret threats as rapidly approaching and increasing in magnitude. To date, no systematic evaluation on the psychometric properties of the LMSQ across diverse cultural contexts has been done. In the present research, the measurement invariance of the LMSQ test scores was examined in 10 countries (N=4000).

The experience of perimenopausal distress: examining the role of anxiety and anxiety sensitivity.

Objective: The hormonal changes that occur in perimenopause can result in distress for a significant proportion of women years before reaching menopause. Previous studies have suggested that various biopsychosocial characteristics and personality traits contribute to more intense reactions to these hormonal changes. In the present study, we examined the contribution of trait anxiety and anxiety sensitivity in predicting the experience of perimenopausal distress in pre- and early perimenopausal women while controlling for some menstrual experiences.

Psychosocial adjustment to sex reassignment surgery: a qualitative examination and personal experiences of six transsexual persons in croatia.

In Croatia, transgender individuals face numerous social and medical obstacles throughout the process of transition. The aim of this study was to depict the factors contributing to the psychosocial adjustment of six transsexual individuals living in Croatia following sex reassignment surgery (SRS). A combination of quantitative and qualitative self-report methods was used.

Anxiety and anxiety sensitivity as predictors of fear of childbirth: different patterns for nulliparous and parous women.

Objective: The demographic characteristics, maternal parity and personal traits of pregnant women have been frequently studied predictors of fear of childbirth (FOC). The aim of this study was to examine the role of demographic variables, expected pain level, trait anxiety and anxiety sensitivity in FOC among nulliparous and multiparous women in the last trimester of pregnancy.

Method: Two-hundred pregnant women completed a booklet with questionnaires including the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire (W-DEQ), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), The State - Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and questions on expected labor pain and demographics.

Factorial and diagnostic validity of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) in Croatian primary health care.

The aim of this study was to examine the factorial and diagnostic validity of the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II) in Croatian primary health care. Data were collected using a medical outpatient sample (N = 314). Reliability measured by internal consistency proved to be high.

The utility of BDI-II in assessment of pre- and postpartum depression symptoms and their relation to labor pain.

Background: It is argued that the total Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) score likely overestimates depression in pregnant women given the overlap between depressive and somatic symptoms during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to explore the structure and the intensity of depression symptoms during pregnancy and two months postpartum. In populations with high incidence of somatic complaints (i.

Assessing psychosocial factors in depressed patients--accordance of patient's and physician's assessment.

Aim of this study was to investigate the differences in the assessment of psychosocial factors by depressed and non depressed patients, and their congruence with physicians' assessment for both groups. The cross-sectional study was conducted in three family physicians' practices in Zagreb, Croatia, during 2007. Sample of depressed patients included 76 patients out of 85, and randomized comparison group of 189 out of 235.