METHODS: Chi-square tests were used for initial screening to select only those variables which would show an initial significance. Risk Ratios (RR) were calculated, and a Multiple Backward Stepwise Linear Regression Analysis (MBSLRA) was followed with those variables given significant results at screening and with the presence of distress or depression or the lack of both of them.
RESULTS: The most important risk factors for depression were female (RR = 1.59-5.49) and non-binary gender (RR = 1.56-7.41), unemployment (RR = 1.41-6.57), not working during lockdowns (RR = 1.43-5.79), bad general health (RR = 2.74-9.98), chronic somatic disorder (RR = 1.22-5.57), history of mental disorders (depression RR = 2.31-9.47; suicide attempt RR = 2.33-9.75; psychosis RR = 2.14-10.08; Bipolar disorder RR = 2.75-12.86), smoking status (RR = 1.15-5.31) and substance use (RR = 1.77-8.01). The risk factors for distress or depression that survived MBSLRA were younger age, being widowed, living alone, bad general health, being a carer, chronic somatic disorder, not working during lockdowns, being single, self-reported history of depression, bipolar disorder, self-harm, suicide attempts and of other mental disorders, smoking, alcohol, and substance use.
CONCLUSIONS: Targeted preventive interventions are crucial to safeguard the mental health of vulnerable groups, emphasizing the importance of diverse samples in future research.
LIMITATIONS: Online data collection may have resulted in the underrepresentation of certain population groups.
METHODS: Urdu-speaking volunteers were recruited via outreach strategies, for participation in focus groups. Four focus group discussions were conducted on three distinct themes: 1/ Sexual Health Promotion, 2/Hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, and 3/ Mental Health. The focus groups were recorded, with the written consent of the users. Thematic analysis was conducted after transcription of the focus-group discussion.
RESULTS: We succeeded in mobilizing 4 Pakistani users, aged between 19 and 30 years. The group dynamics was very rich and allowed us to highlight numerous social aspects related to the importance of the group belonging, the family, and others points of view on these topics. Many Urdu vocabulary had to be redefined and revealed the extent of the pre-existing taboo.
CONCLUSIONS: Notwithstanding the extreme difficulty of mobilizing an invisible target population on a sensitive topic such as sexual and mental health, our experience highlights the need to consider the knowledge of the people concerned. The participative approach allowed us to fit the content of our medium to, for instance: the collectivist type of society of the target population; the level of literacy in their mother tongue; and to the embodiment of some taboo in their vocabulary. Although time and energy consuming, our approach seems relevant and could be replicated to other communities.
METHODS: The sample included 54,826 subjects (64.73% females; 34.15% males; 1.11% nonbinary gender) from 40 countries (COMET-G study). The analysis was based on the registration of previous history that could serve as a fair approximation for the lifetime prevalence of various medical conditions.
RESULTS: About 24.5% reported a history of somatic and 26.14% of mental disorders. Mental disorders were by far the most prevalent group of medical conditions. Comorbidity of any somatic with any mental disorder was reported by 8.21%. One-third to almost two-thirds of somatic patients were also suffering from a mental disorder depending on the severity and multicomorbidity. Bipolar and psychotic patients and to a lesser extent depressives, manifested an earlier (15-20 years) manifestation of somatic multicomorbidity, severe disability, and probably earlier death. The overwhelming majority of patients with mental disorders were not receiving treatment or were being treated in a way that was not recommended. Antipsychotics and antidepressants were not related to the development of metabolic syndrome.
CONCLUSIONS: The finding that one-third to almost two-thirds of somatic patients also suffered from a mental disorder strongly suggests that psychiatry is the field with the most trans-specialty and interdisciplinary value and application points to the importance of teaching psychiatry and mental health in medical schools and also to the need for more technocratically oriented training of psychiatric residents.
OBJECTIVES: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to examine the experiences of transgender athletes in sports, focusing on mental health issues and factors contributing to inequality among transgender and other sexual minorities.
METHODS: The study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and searched 10 electronic databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science, to identify eligible studies published between 2005 and 2022. The search yielded 1430 articles, of which only 12 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review.
RESULTS: The meta-analysis of the 12 studies included in this review revealed that transgender athletes faced social discrimination and inequality in sports participation, resulting in mental health problems and higher rates of suicide. From a cohort of 21,565 participants in the studies, 7152 (33%) were subjected to discrimination in sports participation and healthcare, with a rate of 0.61 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.35, 0.81). However, transgender athletes who felt welcomed and embraced by their respective teams accounted for 0.39 (95% CI: 0.19, 0.65). These results indicated significant differences between how transgender athletes are treated in healthcare settings and when participating in sports.
CONCLUSION: The study findings underscore the need for policies, cultural research, and interventions to address discrimination and inequality faced by transgender athletes in sports participation. Promoting equality and safeguarding the rights of transgender athletes can mitigate the risk of mental health problems and increase physical activity among sexual minorities.
METHODS: This was a prospective observational study conducted in government maternity clinics in Kuala Lumpur. Pregnant women aged 19-39 years without comorbidities were recruited during second trimester and followed up until birth. The participants were required to wear a UVB dosimeter for a total of three consecutive days (2 weekdays and 1 weekend) to determine sunlight exposure (SED) during their second trimester. The PSQI and DASS-21 were used to determine sleep quality and psychological wellbeing, respectively. GWG data were collected from clinic health records. The association of sun exposure and psychological health with total GWG was determined using multiple linear regression.
RESULTS: A total of 73 pregnant women aged 27.9 ± 3.3 years were included in the analysis. The prevalence of pregnant women exhibiting stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms was 11%, 40%, and 16% respectively. The global PSQI median score was 5 (IQR = 3), with 59% having poor sleep quality. Median sleep duration was 7 h (IQR = 2) while median sleep efficiency was 92% (IQR = 14). The median SED was 0.04 (IQR = 0.09), with 51% of them being under the 50th percentile. The majority had adequate GWG (58%). Sleep parameters were not found to be correlated with total GWG except for sleep latency (ρ = -0.356, p = 0.002). Sunlight exposure was found to have no significant relationship with sleep and total GWG. Adjusted multiple linear regression showed that greater depression is associated with higher total GWG (β = 0.239, p = 0.039) while controlling for sleep quality.
CONCLUSION: Depression was associated with total GWG when sleep quality was controlled for while sunlight exposure had no significant association with GWG. Future studies should study the complex relationship between factors of mental health, sleep, and weight gain during pregnancy. Healthcare providers may be better equipped to develop interventions aimed to prevent negative maternal and fetal health outcomes.
OBJECTIVE: Therefore, this research aims to create a flexible mental health care architecture that leverages data-driven methodologies and ensemble machine learning models. The objective is to proficiently structure, process, and present data for positive computing. The adaptive data-driven architecture facilitates customized interventions for diverse mental disorders, fostering positive computing. Consequently, improved mental health care outcomes and enhanced accessibility for individuals with varied mental health conditions are anticipated.
METHOD: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, the researchers conducted a systematic literature review in databases indexed in Web of Science to identify the existing strengths and limitations of software architecture relevant to our adaptive design. The systematic review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023444661). Additionally, a mapping process was employed to derive essential paradigms serving as the foundation for the research architectural design. To validate the architecture based on its features, professional experts utilized a Likert scale.
RESULTS: Through the review, the authors identified six fundamental paradigms crucial for designing architecture. Leveraging these paradigms, the authors crafted an adaptive data-driven architecture, subsequently validated by professional experts. The validation resulted in a mean score exceeding four for each evaluated feature, confirming the architecture's effectiveness. To further assess the architecture's practical application, a prototype architecture for predicting pandemic anxiety was developed.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) will involve 207 Arab students (14-18 years old) from 12 Arabic schools in the Klang Valley. The schools will be assigned randomly to an intervention (online life skills programme) or control group at a 1:1 ratio. The researcher will deliver eight one-hour sessions to the intervention group weekly. The control group will receive the intervention at the evaluation end. Both groups will complete assessments at baseline, and immediately and three months after the intervention. The primary outcome is anxiety, depression, and stress [Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21)]. The secondary outcomes are self-efficacy (General Self-Efficacy Scale) and coping skills (Brief COPE Inventory). Data analysis will involve the Generalised Estimation Equation with a 95% confidence interval. P < .05 will indicate significant inter- and intra-group differences.
DISCUSSION: This will be the first cluster RCT of an online life skills education programme involving Arab adolescent migrants in Malaysia. The results could support programme effectiveness for improving the participants' mental health problems (depression, anxiety, stress), increasing their self-efficacy, and enhancing their coping skills. The evidence could transform approaches for ameliorating migrant children and adolescents' mental well-being.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study is registered with the Clinical Trial Registry (Identifier: NCT05370443).
METHODS: Meaningful work, coping strategies, and mental health were evaluated in empirical research based on a sample of 462 SME employees working in Malaysia. Structured questionnaires were used to collect the data and analyze it through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS 21.0.
RESULTS: The findings of the study show the importance of meaningful work in influencing the mental health of SME employees, particularly during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests that the more they value and see their work as meaningful, the more capable they are of dealing with limitations and mental health problems associated with crises. The study also discovered a partial mediating role for coping strategies between employees' mental health and meaningful work.
CONCLUSION: This study encourages employees to constantly feel connected and discover continued possibilities to work and learn even during crisis situations. In order to improve human resource efficiency in emerging markets, managers and owners of SMEs must implement the model developed by the researchers.
METHODS: We collected the literature about mental wellbeing and medical professionalism (published from 1 January 1986 to 31 March 2021) from the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and ScienceDirect databases using the search terms 'mental wellbeing' and 'medical professionalism'.We included all peer-reviewed articles in which mental wellbeing and medical professionalism in the undergraduate medical education context were the central topics regardless of the age range, nationality, race and gender of the participants.
RESULTS: From the 13,076 Iinitially found articles, 16 were included. These 16 articles were from nine countries in four different continents, which all together helped us find answer to our research question using extracted points relating to the main study themes (mental wellbeing and medical professionalism). Under theme 1 (mental wellbeing), six subthemes emerged: burnout, stress, depression, disappointment, depersonalisation and conscientiousness. Theme 2 (medical professionalism), on the other hand, had five subthemes: empathy, academic performance, compassion, unprofessional behaviour and professionalism. A significant inverse association was found between empathy and burnout. Academic performance was also related to burnout. At the same time, empathy was found to have a varied association with stress. Moreover, compassion was found to alleviate burnout and nurture professional gratification.
CONCLUSION: The medical professionalism attributes were found to deteriorate as the mental wellbeing issues grow. This can harm medical students' overall health, current learning abilities and future attitudes towards their patients. Explicit primary research is thus required to examine and intervene in the cause-effect relationship between medical professionalism and mental wellbeing.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of tele-Pilates and tele-yoga training on physical and mental factors and QOL in PwMS, with a focus on two phenotype classifications - relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and secondary progressive MS (SPMS).
METHODS: Eighty-two persons with RRMS (n = 48) and SPMS (n = 34) were randomly assigned into tele-Pilates (n = 29), tele-yoga (n = 26), or control (n = 27). The tele-exercis training was conducted three times per week for eight weeks.
RESULTS: Significant time × group interactions were observed for QoL (p = 0.01), physical activity levels (p < 0.001), mental health (p = 0.05), and a decline in depression (p = 0.002) following tele-Pilates and tele-yoga. The corresponding subfactors, including pain, energy, emotional well-being, and role limitation due to emotional and physical problems, have shown significant improvements after interventions compared with control (all p < 0.05). The effects of exercise over control did not depend on MS phenotype (all p > 0.05).
DISCUSSION: Tele-yoga and tele-Pilates exercises improved QoL and mental and physical health in PwMS, and the benefits were similar across both MS phenotypes. These findings highlight the potential of implementing tele-yoga and tele-Pilates as non-pharmacological mind-body symptomatic treatments for individuals with both RRMS and SPMS.
AIM: To explore mental illness stigmatisation in Malaysian adults.
METHOD: A systematic literature review was conducted using thematic analysis to synthesise and categorise evidence. Five key themes emerged, providing insight into mental health stigmatisation.
FINDINGS: Cultural beliefs, limited knowledge of mental health and lack of education on mental health were factors influencing stigmatisation. Stigmatisation significantly affected the wellbeing and functioning of people with a mental illness. Interventions such as contact-based education effectively reduce stigmatising attitudes manifested by healthcare providers.
CONCLUSION: Establishing mental health literacy, encouraging patient contact, promoting mental health awareness and strengthening mental health policies could reduce mental illness stigmatisation and its impact in Malaysia. Future research is warranted to investigate the impact on physical wellbeing and anti-stigmatising strategies targeting the general public.
OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relationship between exposure to teacher violence and mental health problems.
PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: An international sample of young adults aged 18 to 24 (N = 283).
METHODS: Participants completed self-report measures of childhood trauma, exposure to teacher violence, depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress, and alcohol misuse.
RESULTS: Exposure to teacher violence could be reliably and validly measured using the Teacher Violence Scale (TVS). Current mental health problems - including depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress, and alcohol misuse - were associated with exposure to teacher violence during high school years, but not with childhood non-betrayal trauma.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings expand the application of the betrayal trauma theory to school settings and point to the importance of preventing and managing teacher violence. It is important to provide more support and training to teachers and enhance monitoring measures in schools. More research on the prevalence and correlates of exposure to teacher violence is needed. We also provided first evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the English version of the TVS to facilitate future research.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The research instruments used included The McMaster Family Assessment Device Adaptation, IEXPAC, and S.N.Q. 22, F.Q., P.S.Q., Social Support Questionnaire shortened version, The Family Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire and extraversion personality questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to caregivers with a population of 175 individuals. The sample size of this study was 133 individuals selected through proportional random sampling. The data were analysed using Structural Equation Modeling Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS) with Amos software v.26.0.
RESULTS: The phase one research showed that intention and satisfaction are the leading indicators of family acceptance that can influence family roles. At the same time, family acceptance is influenced by personal character (p≤0.001), care experience (p≤0.001), social support (p≤0.001), social norms (p=0.004), symptom severity (p≤0.001), and stigma (p≤0.001). Additionally, family acceptance significantly impacted the family's caregiving role (CR=6.573, p≤0.001).
CONCLUSION: It was found that the family acceptance model to improve the family's role in the care of patients with severe mental disorders focuses on the acceptance that the family has to be able to carry out its role well in patients. To improve family acceptance, families still lack the personal character expected in caring for patients with severe mental disorders at home. It is necessary to increase commitment to care and positive values in life.
OBJECTIVE: In this study, we investigated whether and how artificial intelligence chatbots facilitate the expression of user emotions, specifically sadness and depression. We also examined cultural differences in the expression of depressive moods among users in Western and Eastern countries.
METHODS: This study used SimSimi, a global open-domain social chatbot, to analyze 152,783 conversation utterances containing the terms "depress" and "sad" in 3 Western countries (Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and 5 Eastern countries (Indonesia, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand). Study 1 reports new findings on the cultural differences in how people talk about depression and sadness to chatbots based on Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count and n-gram analyses. In study 2, we classified chat conversations into predefined topics using semisupervised classification techniques to better understand the types of depressive moods prevalent in chats. We then identified the distinguishing features of chat-based depressive discourse data and the disparity between Eastern and Western users.
RESULTS: Our data revealed intriguing cultural differences. Chatbot users in Eastern countries indicated stronger emotions about depression than users in Western countries (positive: Pmental health (Pmental health support, emphasizing the importance of continued technical and policy-wise efforts to improve chatbot interactions for those in need of emotional assistance. Our data indicate the possibility of chatbots providing helpful information about depressive moods, especially for users who have difficulty communicating emotions to other humans.
METHODS: We Searched China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, Wan fang Database, CQVIP Journal Database、Web of Science Core Collection, Elsevier SD, Springer Online Journals, Medline, EBSCO-ERIC, SAGE Online Journals, PsycINFO, PsycArticles and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses。85 studies (90 independent effect size) were included from 2016 to 2023。The pooled correlation coefficient of the association between fear of missing out and mobile phone addiction was calculated by a random effects model using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis(Version 3.3).
RESULTS: The main effect analysis revealed a high positive correlation between fear of missing out and mobile phone addiction (r = 0.47, 95%CI [0.44, 0.50]). Furthermore, the measurements of mobile phone addiction moderated the strength of the association between fear of missing out and mobile phone addiction, with the highest correlation measured using MPATS and the lowest correlation measured using MPDQ. The age, gender, year of publication, cultural background, and the measurements of fear of missing out had no significant effect on the correlation between fear of missing out and mobile phone addiction.
CONCLUSION: The results indicated that fear of missing out was closely related to mobile phone addiction, which complied with the I-PACE model. Psychological services and mental health services should be developed to reduce the emergence of fear of missing out in the digital age and thus alleviate dependence on devices.