Several studies have been focused on the quality of life of caregivers caring for patients with exclusively physical or mental diseases, but little is known about the differences related to the burden experienced.This study had as its subject the burden of caregivers and their quality of life involved in helping patients with diseases (1) physical, (2) mental and (3) both pathological conditions. We interviewed 294 caregivers of outpatients undergoing physiotherapic, psychiatric and neuroriabilitative treatment. The evaluation was carried out with three instruments: an informative questionnaire, the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) and the Quality of Life Index (QoL -I).Results show that both the burden and the quality of life are significantly worse for caregivers who care for patients with both physical and mental diseases. Caregivers most disadvantaged are those who indicate as a reason of care the sense of duty rather than the affection. Finally, the sons and daughters, differently from the parents, showed a greater burden of required time and a lower quality of life.The investigation of the motivational aspects of the caregivers and the increased knowledge of the differences between the emotional experience of parents and children can contribute to the definition of more specific psycho-educational interventions and support.

The effects of oral health conditions on physical and psychosocial dimensions have been a matter of interest for several authors over the last decades. Nevertheless, literature lacks studies that address the relationship between the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and emotions. The present study aimed to investigate the psychological impact of oral disorders on people's emotional well-being, with a particular attention to gender and age differences. Two hundred twenty-nine dental patients in care at private dental clinics were individually tested. One hundred thirty of them were females (56.8%) and 99 males (43.2%), aged between 18 and 83 years (M = 38.11; SD = 16.7). For the evaluation, the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) were used. Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlations, the ANOVA, and the Kruskal-Wallis test. OHRQoL showed several correlations with all the emotions explored, overcoming the wellknown relationship with anxiety and depression (p < .05). The degree of OHRQoL produced differences on mood states, which could appear normal, moderately altered, or psychopathological (p < .03). Furthermore, in different life stages, patients showed specific OHRQoL and emotions.

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The Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ) is a scale which measures aspects of the oral health-related quality of life. However, no Italian version of PIDAQ has been developed. The aim of this study was to translate the original English version of PIDAQ into Italian and to assess the validity and reliability of the Italian version for application among Italian adults. The questionnaire was translated into Italian, back translated, pre-tested, and cross-culturally adapted. Subsequently, the Italian version of PIDAQ and the Oral health impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) were administered to 264 orthodontic patients aged from 18 to 83 years old, mean age was (38.39 + 16.9) belonging to Southern Italy. Cronbach's alpha of the translated PIDAQ was 0.82, corrected item-total correlation ranged from 0.48 to 0.67. The 23 items of PIDAQ were divided into four domains. There was a logical relation among the items in the same domain and a highly significant association among scores of PIDAQ and the other scale. The translated Italian version of PIDAQ demonstrated good reliability and validity. Its sufficient discriminative and evaluative psychometric properties provide the theoretical evidence for further use in study on orthodontic-specific aspects of quality of life among Italian adults.

Dental anxiety is defined as the response to a stressful stimulus that is specific to a dental context. The dental treatment itself may provoke excitation and aggressive response relating to multiple sources of motivation that have been examined by the literature.The hypothesis to test in the present paper is to what extent dental anxiety can be explained by looking at patients’ characteristics solely or by considering latent aggressiveness that could be manifested before and during the dental treatment.The results of the study should give some indications to dentists to better understand the presence of a greater or lesser anxiety associated with orthodontic treatment in order to provide an appropriate assistance and, eventually, to help patients in developing coping strategies. As a consequence, it should be clear how intervening on each component of dental anxiety and/or aggressiveness may have a positive impact on the outcome of dental treatment.