Network analysis of psychosomatic symptoms in pharmacists during the pandemic.

Abstract

We explored the networks and discriminant abilities of the current Psychosomatic Symptoms Scale (PSSS) in pharmacists for future abbreviation. Ten thousand seven hundred twenty-one pharmacists participated in this study through an online investigation. We used network analysis to reveal the central and bridge symptoms between the subscales (psychological and somatic symptoms) of the PSSS. Then, we utilized item response theory (IRT) to identify discriminant abilities of the current 26-item of PSSS. Over twenty percent of the pharmacists were troubled with significant psychosomatic issues during the pandemic. Risk factors included age, lack of support, and impaired general health conditions. The network analysis revealed that "Irritability" was central to the psychological subscale and "Fatigue" was central to the somatic subscale. "Irritability-Fatigue," "Fatigue-Obsession," and "Self-injury idea-Perineum discomfort" was bridging between the somatic and psychological subscales. IRT found that "Anhedonia," "Depression," "Tightness," "Palpitations," and "Difficulty breathing" were highly discriminated. A future version of PSSS could be abbreviated according to the highlighted items, and they should also be emphasized in future psychosomatic research and targets for intervention. Public Significance StatementThe current Psychosomatic Symptoms Scale is a helpful tool to assess psychosomatic symptoms with 26 items. The future version will be briefer and emphasize irritability, fatigue, self-injury ideal, perineum discomfort, anhedonia, depression, tightness, palpitations, and difficulty breathing.

Clinical assessment in the time of COVID-19: Introduction to the special issue.

“…Several articles also highlighted the impact of the pandemic on mental health and cognitive/academic functioning. These studies identified varying levels of impact across populations (i.e., health workers, parents, children, and college students) and that both individual vulnerabilities (e.g., age, health status; Jiang et al, 2023; Schlechter et al, 2023), as well as external impact of the pandemic (Nails et al, 2023; Ratcliff et al, 2023; Schlechter et al, 2023) were both associated with mental health difficulties. This suggests the importance of considering individual experiences of mental health problems, but also assessment of the ways in which the pandemic caused difficulties and disruption in a person’s life.…”

“…The special issue includes several articles related to this topic, covering areas such as the impact on health professionals, family functioning, children’s cognitive/academic functioning, and college student mental health. The first such article, by Jiang et al (2023), examined the Psychosomatic Symptoms Scale in a large ( N = 10,721) sample of pharmacists working through the COVID-19 pandemic in China. They found support for the discriminant ability of this measure in this unique population.…”