Title : Assessment of resilience in patients with narcolepsy
Abstract:
Background: Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, leading to various difficulties (Campbell AJ, etal. 2011; Dodel R, etal. 2007). Resilience, a psychological trait that enables patients to maintain psychological well-being despite challenges, is crucial for improving quality of life in narcolepsy patients. Despite the significance of resilience in the clinical context, there is a notable deficiency in research concerning resilience among patients with narcolepsy. Furthermore, standardized methodologies for assessing resilience in this demographic have not been adequately established. Consequently, this study aims to develop and validate a methodological approach for quantifying resilience in patients with narcolepsy.
Methods: Eighty-nine participants aged 18-87 years were involved in this study. They completed a self-administered questionnaire including demographic and the Bidimensional Resilience Scale (BRS) developed by Hirano (2010). The BRS comprises 21 items across seven factors in two dimensions: (1) innate factors (optimism, control, sociability, vitality) and (2) acquired factors (problem-solving, self-understanding, understanding others). Each factor in the BRS has three questions, rated on a five-point Likert scale. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analyses. The number of factors was determined using the maximum-likelihood estimation with Promax rotation. A cumulative contribution ratio of 50% was set, with factor loadings of less than 0.40 being deleted. This process was repeated to refine the item.
Results: Thirteen items across four factors were extracted: "Positive Mindset," "Interpersonal Skills," "Understanding Others," and "Coping Skills." The overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.85. IT correlations (item-total) ranged from 0.36 to 0.74. Excluded items from the original BRS included three for "Vitality," two each for "Control" and "Self-Understanding," and one for "Understanding Others."
The number of items in the questionnaire measuring resilience in narcolepsy was reduced by eight compared with the original questionnaire; all three items were excluded from the "vitality" factor. These results suggest that external interaction is a more important factor in resilience than internal aspects, such as whether they have energy for activities or self-understanding. Psychological problems such as depression and anxiety are common in people with narcolepsy (G. Stores, 2015). Resilience can be expected to support for patients to recovery from psychological issue.
Conclusions: This study was conducted to investigate the metrics of resilience in Japanese patients with narcolepsy. As a result, 13 questions were extracted to measure resilience.
Audience Take Away:
- Currently, there is not established methods for quantifying resilience in individuals diagnosed with narcolepsy. This research developed and validated a novel methodology for resilience measurement in this patient group
- In the future, it will be possible to verify whether resilience affects mental health and quality of life by conducting a survey using the resilience scale for narcolepsy
- Based on these results, effective approaches that contribute to the mental health and quality of life of narcolepsy patients can be proposed
