Psychological distress trajectories in chronic physical health conditions.

Abstract

Objective. The onset of a chronic health condition (CHC) can have a severe impact on an individual's life, affecting mental and physical health. This study's goal was to investigate psychological distress trajectories starting from one year before to four years after the onset of a physical CHC. The specific aims were to identify the number and shape of longitudinal psychological distress trajectories and to test health-related, psychological, social, and demographic factors predicting these trajectories.Methods. Two samples were drawn from the Swiss Household Panel dataset: a CHC sample (n = 361) and a 1 to 1 matched comparison sample of healthy individuals. Latent growth mixture modeling was used to identify psychological distress trajectories over six years. Factors predicting trajectories were then tested using multinomial logistic regression.Results. Four psychological distress trajectories were identified in the CHC sample: resilience (53.9%), chronic (22.2%), delayed (15.0%), and recovery (8.9%). In the comparison sample, two trajectories were identified: low psychological distress (90%) and elevated psychological distress (10%). Protective factors associated with resilient trajectory membership in the CHC sample are higher emotional stability, higher relationship satisfaction, and male gender.Conclusion. Individuals living with a CHC have an increased risk of vulnerability compared to a sample of healthy individuals. This advocates awareness of mental health issues following the onset of a CHC. In this regard, biopsychosocial factors (gender, emotional stability, and relationship satisfaction) offer prevention and intervention opportunities for more vulnerable individuals.

The longitudinal impact of a chronic physical health condition on subjective well-being.

“…The present study explored predicting factors across different types of physical CHC in an attempt to identify transversal factors that would predict psychological adaptation following any kind of CHC. Social support (Debnar et al, 2020;Li et al, 2018) or higher sense of spirituality (Harris et al, 2010) did not predict transition patterns of SWB in the present study. This unexpected finding may indicate that these factors may be protective factors in the case of specific types of CHC, but not in the face of any type of CHC.…”

“…These transition pathways suggest the occurrence of recovery patterns (upwards transition to a profile with higher levels of SWB) and delayed reaction patterns (downwards transition to a profile with lower levels of SWB) in the aftermath of the CHC onset, which have also been observed in past studies analyzing longitudinal trajectories (Galatzer-Levy et al, 2018). Compared with the general population, individuals living with a physical CHC have a higher risk of sustaining lower mental health (Debnar, 2020). Similarly, the present study results demonstrate that half of the participants showed lower levels of SWB at least over three years.…”

“…Psychological adaptation is a more or less long-lasting process unfolding through several years (Galatzer-Levy et al, 2018). Past studies investigating longitudinal trajectories shed light on heterogeneous patterns, such as recovery or delayed reaction, to the CHC onset that could not be detected with cross-sectional design (Debnar et al, 2020; Galatzer-Levy et al, 2018). Latent transition analysis (LTA) is a statistical technique that enables, not only to identify patterns or profiles of response across multiple indicators of psychological adaptation but also their longitudinal unfolding.…”

“…These factors include biological (e.g., health status), psychological (e.g., personality), social (e.g., social support), or sociodemographic (e.g., age) aspects. Empirical studies have shown that factors associated with better mental health or well-being following the onset of a physical CHC are: better health such as overall better health status (Burton et al, 2015), or better self-rated health (Zhu et al, 2014), higher emotional stability, openness, extraversion, conscientiousness (Hampson & Friedman, 2008; Strickhouser et al, 2017), more social support (Debnar et al, 2020; Li et al, 2018), and more spirituality (Harris et al, 2010). On the other hand, factors such as income (Lyons et al, 2016), past negative life events (Butler et al, 1999), civil status (Havik & Maeland, 1990; Moergeli et al, 2012), education (Morris et al, 2011; Van Leeuwen et al, 2012), sex (Moergeli et al, 2012; Zhu et al, 2014), and age (Havik & Maeland, 1990; Moergeli et al, 2012) have been inconsistently associated with psychological adaptation following a physical CHC.…”

Longitudinal changes in psychological adaptation outcomes during spinal cord injury inpatient rehabilitation.

“…Findings regarding sex and injury-related characteristics generally indicate that they are not accurate predictors of psychological adaptation outcomes (Chevalier et al, 2009; Tonack et al, 2008; van Leeuwen et al, 2011). Yet, some studies have found that males are more likely to show a low depressive mood trajectory or a profile of minimal psychological impact than females following the onset of a chronic health condition (Debnar et al, 2020) or SCI (Galvis Aparicio et al, 2020). This may be related to the tendency for females to rate life events as more negative and uncontrollable than males (Matud, 2004).…”