Ricerc@Sapienza

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) represents a group of intestinal disorders that includes two main forms, Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). The presence of psychological comorbidities in IBD is clearly documented. Earlier studies have shown that IBD impacts on health connected quality of life and represents a potential risk factor for anxiety and depression.
The present research aims to investigate the role of resilience in protecting patients with inflammatory bowel disease from developing anxiety and depression after IBD diagnosis and treatment.
Resilience represents the individual's ability to successfully adapt to changes, to resist the negative impact of traumatic events or stressful situations, and to avoid the appearance of significant psychological distress. We know from earlier studies that high levels of resilience can attenuate the emotional distress induced by traumatic events. We therefore expect that IBD severity will significantly predict higher level of anxiety and depression, but this effect should become weaker as resilience levels increase.
A sample of about 200 patients affected by IBD will be involved in the study. Resilience will be assessed by the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Depression and anxiety symptoms will be measured by using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The clinical disease activity of IBD patients will be assessed according to the Harvey-Bradshaw index for CD patients, and the clinical Mayo Score for UC patients. A moderated regression analysis will be applied in order to test the study hypotheses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to examine the protective role of resilience against anxiety and depression among IBD patients.