Psychodermatology in Balkans: Knowledge, awareness, and practice patterns of dermatologists in Albania

Abstract

The aim of this study is to find out the practice patterns, awareness, and knowledge about psychodermatology in Albanian dermatologists. A survey questionnaire was sent to Albanian dermatologists by mail and distributed during a regional dermatology conference. The dermatologists were requested to provide information on demographic variables, level of training, referral patterns, degree of comfort in managing psychocutaneous disorders, awareness of community resources, and interest in continuing medical educational activities. A total of 75 surveys were mailed in and 41 were returned for analysis. Only 13.2% of dermatologists reported clear understanding of psychodermatology and 41.5% reported being somewhat comfortable in diagnosing and treating psychocutaneous disorders, however requiring further help. Psoriasis, prurigo, and acne were the most common diagnoses associated with psychiatric involvement. The most common diagnoses referred by dermatologists to psychiatrists were psoriasis, prurigo, acne, and trichotillomania. Almost all 98% of dermatologists were not aware of any community resources. About 70% of dermatologists expressed interest in attending continuing medical educational activities. Albanian dermatologist have significant gap in the knowledge, training, awareness, and in treating psychocutaneous disease.

Psychodermatology knowledge and awareness: A cross‐sectional Egyptian perspective

“…Southern India (42.2%), and in Balkans (79%). [13][14][15] Only 12% of dermatologists in our study attended more than one formal training of more than 6 h (4.8%) training and of more than 12 h (8%) training. It is worth noting that attending such training correlated significantly with age and years of experience (r = .26, P = .02).…”

“…16 On the contrary only 31% of Balkan dermatologists reported frequent experience with PD disorders in their practices. 15 Other studies reported the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity in dermatology clinics to be around 25% to 30%. 17 It is worth noting that the level of experience and years of practice in our study influenced the observation and identification of psychocutaneous conditions diagnosed by dermatologists (P = .03).…”

“…Data were collected using a self-designed well-structured question- 4 Albania, 15 southern India, 14 and Kazakhstan 5 ,…”

“…This was in line with other studies from Pakistan, Turkey, and Balkans. 6,11,15 On the contrary, Jafferany et al 4 patients once a month to a psychiatrist while 14% reported that they might refer such patients once a year to a psychiatrist. Such habits of referral was statistically higher among urban than rural dermatologists (P = .025).…”

Analysis of dermatologic conditions in Turkey and Italy by using Google Trends analysis in the era of the COVID ‐19 pandemic

“…In this context, it can be speculated that there may be a strong association between psychological conditions including stress, anxiety, depression, and hair loss along with acne. 26,27 It can also be considered that the wide use of face masks may also contribute to the increasing number of acne mechanica during the COVID-19 pandemic. 2,28 In this study, "genital warts" and "molluscum contagiosum" search terms were also investigated.…”