1. Potentially traumatic events, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and skin-related quality of life among adults with self-reported skin disease symptoms.
- Author
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Strange TA, Clark HL, and Dixon LJ
- Subjects
- Humans, Female, Male, Adult, Middle Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Young Adult, Aged, Quality of Life, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic psychology, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic epidemiology, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic diagnosis, Self Report statistics & numerical data, Skin Diseases psychology, Skin Diseases epidemiology, Skin Diseases diagnosis
- Abstract
The connection between stress and skin disease has been extensively documented; however, there are no empirical studies investigating the incidence of traumatic event exposure and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms among dermatology patients. To address this gap in the literature and begin to understand the associations between PTS symptoms and skin disease symptoms, this study used a sample of adults with self-reported skin disease symptoms to examine: (1) rates of potentially traumatic event (PTE) exposure and PTS symptoms; and (2) the association between PTS symptoms and skin-related quality of life, controlling for relevant covariates. Data were collected online through Cloud Research, and participants completed a battery of self-report measures. The sample included 310 participants (68.4% female) who endorsed current skin disease symptoms. Results indicated that 47.1% of participants endorsed clinical levels of PTS symptoms. Consistent with hypotheses, greater levels of PTS symptoms were associated with worse skin-related quality of life, and this association was particularly robust for arousal-related symptoms. Results shed light on the occurrence of trauma-related experiences among individuals with self-reported skin disease and indicate a link between PTS symptoms and the perceived burden of skin disease symptoms on daily living. However, this study was cross-sectional and relied on self-report measures; therefore, findings should be interpreted with caution, particularly since diagnoses could not be verified. Replication of this work in dermatology patients is needed to further understand these connections., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethical approval The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. All participants provided informed consent. This study was approved by the University of Mississippi’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). Potentially Traumatic Events, Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, and Skin-related Quality of Life among Adults with Self-Reported Skin Disease Symptoms. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2024
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