Objectives As the world population ages, psychiatrists will increasingly need instruments for measuring constructs of psychopathology that are generalizable to diverse elders. The study tested whether syndromes of co‐occurring problems derived from self‐ratings of psychopathology by US elders would fit self‐ratings by elders in 19 other societies. Methods/design The Older Adult Self‐Report (OASR) was completed by 12 826 adults who were 60 to 102 years old in 19 societies from North and South America, Asia, and Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Europe, plus the United States. Individual and multigroup confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) tested the fit of the seven‐syndrome OASR model, consisting of the Anxious/Depressed, Worries, Somatic Complaints, Functional Impairment, Memory/Cognition Problems, Thought Problems, and Irritable/Disinhibited syndromes. Results In individual CFAs, the primary model fit index showed good fit for all societies, while the secondary model fit indices showed acceptable to good fit. The items loaded strongly on their respective factors, with a median item loading of .63 across 20 societies, and 98.7% of the loadings were statistically significant. In multigroup CFAs, 98% of items demonstrated approximate or full metric invariance. Fifteen percent of items demonstrated approximate or full scalar invariance, and another 59% demonstrated scalar invariance across more than half of societies. Conclusions The findings supported the generalizability of OASR syndromes across societies. The seven syndromes offer empirically based clinical constructs that are relevant for elders of different backgrounds. They can be used to assess diverse elders and as a taxonomic framework to facilitate communication, services, research, and training in geriatric psychiatry.

In 2001, in Entre-os-Rios, Portugal, a bridge fell on Douro River; all 59 passengers from 1 bus and 3 cars died and 36 bodies have never been recovered. The objective is to reveal the cumulative risk from multiple losses and unrecovered bodies, 10 years after, compared with grievers from road accidents. There are 2 groups of relatives of victims: from this tragedy (n = 20), with at least 1 unrecovered body; and from road traffic accidents (n = 20), with the same time after loss. The prevalence of prolonged grief was 95% and for traumatic stress was 70%. The associated factors of multiple losses and unrecovered bodies increase the long-term risk (relative risk = 1.6 to 2.8; R = .20 to .28) for prolonged and traumatic grief, providing evidence that the absence of body is an important long-term factor.

The results support the syndrome structure of the OASR for Portuguese elders, offering Portuguese clinicians and researchers a useful instrument for assessing a broad spectrum of psychopathology. The results also offer a core of empirically supported taxonomic constructs of later life psychopathology as a basis for advancing clinical practice, training, and cross-cultural research.

Objectives: To conduct international comparisons of self-reports, collateral reports, and cross-informant agreement regarding older adult psychopathology. Participants: We compared self-ratings of problems (e.g. I cry a lot) and personal strengths (e.g. I like to help others) for 10,686 adults aged 60–102 years from 19 societies and collateral ratings for 7,065 of these adults from 12 societies. Measurements: Data were obtained via the Older Adult Self-Report (OASR) and the Older Adult Behavior Checklist (OABCL; Achenbach et al., 2004). Results: Cronbach’s alphas were .76 (OASR) and .80 (OABCL) averaged across societies. Across societies, 27 of the 30 problem items with the highest mean ratings and 28 of the 30 items with the lowest mean ratings were the same on the OASR and the OABCL. Q correlations between the means of the 0–1–2 ratings for the 113 problem items averaged across all pairs of societies yielded means of .77 (OASR) and .78 (OABCL). For the OASR and OABCL, respectively, analyses of variance (ANOVAs) yielded effect sizes (ESs) for society of 15% and 18% for Total Problems and 42% and 31% for Personal Strengths, respectively. For 5,584 cross-informant dyads in 12 societies, cross-informant correlations averaged across societies were .68 for Total Problems and .58 for Personal Strengths. Mixed-model ANOVAs yielded large effects for society on both Total Problems (ES = 17%) and Personal Strengths (ES = 36%). Conclusions: The OASR and OABCL are efficient, low-cost, easily administered mental health assessments that can be used internationally to screen for many problems and strengths.

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RESUMOO estudo da prestação informal de cuidados a pessoas com diagnóstico de demência e dependentes tem vindo, progressivamente, a ganhar relevo como objecto de estudo para a comunidade científica portuguesa. Com o rápido envelhecimento da população espera-se que o aumento de casos de demência duplique nos próximos 20 anos. Actualmente sem cura conhecida, esta doença, de evolução progressiva, requer uma abordagem reabilitativa que enfatize a manutenção das capacidades existentes e se oriente por diversas grandes áreas. As autoras, com larga experiência de abordagem multidisciplinar desta problemática, tendo seleccionado o período de tempo compreendido entre 2002 e 2011 de publicações sobre "caregiving dementia", apresentam uma aproximação à revisão sistemática analisando o conteúdo de vários artigos. Os resultados globais indicam uma actuação centrada na reabilitação da díade cuidador-idoso promovendo melhorias nos aspectos comunicacionais desta díade, reduzindo deste modo as implicações psicológicas associadas à actividade informal de cuidar.PALAVRA-CHAVE: Cuidadores, demência, implicações psicológicas, ansiedade, depressão, coping ABSTRACTThe study of informal care for people with dementia and their dependents has been gradually gaining importance as an object of study for the Portuguese scientific community. With the rapidly aging population is expected that the increase in cases of dementia will double within the next 20 years. Currently with no known cure, this progressive disease requires a rehabilitative approach that emphasizes the maintenance of existing capabilities and that can be guided through several major areas. The authors, with extensive experience of a multidisciplinary approach to this problem, having selected the time period between 2002 and 2011 of publications on "dementia caregiving," present a systematic approach to analyzing the content review of several articles.The overall results indicate a performance focused on the rehabilitation of elderly-caregiver dyad promoting improvements in the communication of the dyad, thus reducing the psychological implications associated with the activity of informal care.KEYWORDS: Caregivers, dementia, psychological implications, anxiety, depression, coping INTRODUÇÃOOs cuidadores, familiares ou não, são figuras centrais para a pessoa que padece de demência e a sua importância relaciona-se com a globalidade da pessoa. O papel por si desempenhado ultrapassa de sobremaneira a satisfação das necessidades básicas e é encarado pelas equipas de saúde como pedra basilar no esclarecimento do diagnóstico, no acompanhamento, na avaliação/intervenção e consecução dos planos terapêuticos.O conhecimento pela equipa de saúde dos mecanismos de coping (Au et al., 2010), habitualmente usados pelo cuidador, potencia a intervenção partilhada e permite identificar situações que reclamam intervenção atempada. Sabese que estratégias de coping centradas no problema têm mais sucesso que as estratégias centradas nas emoções (Tschanz et al., 2010). São múltiplas as formas de de...

The purpose of this study was to test whether a syndrome model of elder psychopathology derived from collateral ratings, such as from spouses and adult children, in the United States would be generalizable in 11 other societies. Societies represented South America, Asia, and Europe. The Older Adult Behavior Checklist (OABCL) was completed by collateral informants for 6141 60‐ to 102‐year‐olds. The tested model comprised syndromes designated as Anxious/Depressed, Worries, Somatic Complaints, Functional Impairment, Memory/Cognition Problems, Thought Problems, and Irritable/Disinhibited. The model was tested using confirmatory factor analyses in each society separately. The primary model fit index showed a good fit for all societies, while the secondary model fit indices showed acceptable to a good fit for all societies. The items loaded strongly on their respective factors, with a median item loading of 0.69 across the 11 societies. By syndrome, the overall median item loadings ranged from 0.47 for Worries to 0.77 for Functional Impairment. The OABCL syndrome structure was thus generalizable across the tested societies. The OABCL can be used for broad assessment of psychopathology for elders of diverse backgrounds in nursing services and research.

This study aimed to investigate the fear of COVID-19 among university students from various countries in the context of face-to-face classes. This is a cross-sectional study, with a sample of 1,205 university students from several European (Portugal, France and England) and Latin American (Brazil and Paraguay) countries. An online survey was carried out including sociodemographic questions about COVID-19, type of university, face-to-face classes and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale for Face-to-Face Learning (FCV-19S-FL). Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, ANOVA and multiple linear regression were used for data analysis. The results obtained identified a set of fear predictor variables (total, emotional and cognitive), with emphasis on females, first- and second-year students, attendance of courses not related to Health Sciences, preference for a distance learning model, comorbidities among family members or friends, and no previous COVID-19 infection. The comparative study between countries showed that university students in Brazil showed higher levels of all types of fear, statistically significant when compared to the other countries studied, with the exception of England. The results obtained show the impacts and management of the pandemic at the resumption of face-to-face classes after a period of exclusively distance learning, identifying university students at greater risk of mental health.