scholarly journals A-103 Normative Reference Values and Item-Level Symptom Endorsement for the PROMIS® v2.0 Cognitive Function-8-Item Short Form in Adults with Mental Health Problems

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 896-896
Author(s):  
Marsh J ◽  
Iverson G ◽  
Connors E ◽  
Terry D

Abstract Objective The purpose of the study is to present normative data and reliability statistics for the PROMIS® v2.0 Cognitive Function-8-Item Short Form for the total normative sample and subgroups with mental health problems. Method The PROMIS® v2.0 Cognitive Function 8-Item Short Form measures subjective cognitive difficulties (raw score range = 8–40). We stratified the normative sample from the US general population (n = 1,009; 51.1% women) by gender, self-reported history of a depression or anxiety diagnosis, and recent mental health symptoms (i.e., endorsed frequent anxiety or depression symptoms in the last week) and examined cognitive symptom reporting. Results Those with past or present mental health difficulties obtained lower raw scores on the measure, reflecting greater cognitive symptom reporting. This was apparent in men (all men, M = 31.06, SD = 7.68; depression group, M = 26.74, SD = 8.09; anxiety group, M = 26.95, SD = 7.54; mental health group M = 24.73, SD = 7.79) and women (all women M = 33.23, SD = 7.32; depression group, M = 29.78, SD = 8.57; anxiety group, M = 30.19, SD = 7.81; mental health group, M = 28.60, SD = 8.61). The base rates for endorsing three or more cognitive symptoms was greater in those with mental health problems (men: full sample = 19.7%; depression group = 37.1%; anxiety group = 32.8%; mental health group = 45.7%; women: full sample = 10.1%; depression group = 22.8%; anxiety group = 19.4%; mental health group = 24.8%). Internal consistency, as measured by Cronbach’s alpha, ranged from 0.92 to 0.95. Conclusions The PROMIS® v2.0 Cognitive Function-8-Item Short Form is a reliable measure of subjective cognitive functioning across genders and mental health status. Those with past or present mental health difficulties report a greater number of cognitive symptoms. It may be important to address these difficulties in clinical practice.

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1234-1234
Author(s):  
F. Cheema ◽  
J. Graham ◽  
D. Moffat ◽  
C. Gordon

It is well recognised that individuals with severe mental health difficulties have increased risks of significant physical health problems and that some of the treatments for mental health problems can cause physical health difficulties as side effects. It is also known that people with mental health difficulties do not present themselves regularly for physical health monitoring as suggested by national and international guidelines. We show how a secondary care community mental health service cooperated with primary care general medical services to increase the take up of physical health monitoring by patients with severe and enduring mental health problems.Staff in the community mental health team which served a rural/small urban population identified patients with severe and enduring mental health difficulties or those patients on medications linked to physical problems and contacted the primary care physicians responsible for the patients’ general care with patient details and encouraged patient attendance for physical health monitoring. Physical monitoring included blood pressure, ECG, glucose, thyroid, lipids, height and weight. Post-intervention attendance figures show an increase of 30% in patients attending physical health reviews compared with pre-intervention figures. The intervention has been now rolled out to a larger catchment area of 25000 persons.[Physical health monitoring by individual parameter]


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Bryant ◽  
Jacalyn Guy ◽  
Joni Holmes ◽  

Children and adolescents with developmental problems are at increased risk of experiencing mental health problems. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is widely used as a screener for detecting mental health difficulties in these populations, but its use thus far has been restricted to groups of children with diagnosed disorders (e.g., ADHD). Transdiagnostic approaches, which focus on symptoms and soften or remove the boundaries between traditional categorical disorders, are increasingly adopted in research and practice. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of the SDQ to detect concurrent mental health problems in a transdiagnostic sample of children. The sample were referred by health and educational professionals for difficulties related to learning (N = 389). Some had one diagnosis, others had multiple, but many had no diagnoses. Parent-rated SDQ scores were significantly positively correlated with parent ratings of mental health difficulties on the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS). Ratings on the SDQ Emotion subscale significantly predicted the likelihood of having concurrent clinical anxiety and depression scores. Ratings on the Hyperactivity subscale predicted concurrent anxiety levels. These findings suggest the SDQ could be a valuable screening tool for identifying existing mental health difficulties in children recognized as struggling, as it can be in typically developing children and those with specific diagnoses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-203
Author(s):  
Ana Petak ◽  
Sanja Narić ◽  
Roberta Matković

ATTITUDES TOWARD PEOPLE WITH MENTAL HEALTH DIFFICULTIES The implementation of modern approaches that seek to deinstitutionalize traditional psychiatric services is hampered by unfavorable attitudes of the community towards people with mental disabilities. Stigma is one of the most important factors that delay seeking help and negatively affects the quality of life of people with mental health problems. The research was conducted to describe attitudes towards people with mental health problems and determine their relationship with socio-demographic variables, information, and personal experience with mental health problems. There were 108 participants aged 21 to 59 (71% female, 64.5% college and university degrees). The Community Attitudes toward Mental Illness scale (CAMI) (Taylor & Dear, 1981) and a survey questionnaire were used online. Participants have generally benevolent attitudes toward all dimensions of the scale. Higher self-assessment of knowledge about mental health problems leads to more favorable attitudes towards authoritarianism, and younger age to less social restraint. Participants with a high school diploma have more negative attitudes towards the dimensions of authoritarianism and benevolence than participants with a university degree. There are no significant differences in attitudes regarding the experience of seeking mental health support, but on the authoritarian dimension, there is a significant interaction effect of being informed and mental health support seeking. The results indicate the importance of further research into the relationship between attitudes and mental health support seeking and the level of being informed on mental health issues. Key words: mental health; mental health difficulties; attitudes; stigmatization


2019 ◽  
Vol 215 (3) ◽  
pp. 565-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Deighton ◽  
Suzet Tanya Lereya ◽  
Polly Casey ◽  
Praveetha Patalay ◽  
Neil Humphrey ◽  
...  

SummaryCurrent mental health provision for children is based on estimates of one in ten children experiencing mental health problems. This study analyses a large-scale community-based dataset of 28 160 adolescents to explore school-based prevalence of mental health problems and characteristics that predict increased odds of experiencing them. Findings indicate the scale of mental health problems in England is much higher than previous estimates, with two in five young people scoring above thresholds for emotional problems, conduct problems or hyperactivity. Gender, deprivation, child in need status, ethnicity and age were all associated with increased odds of experiencing mental health difficulties.Declarations of interestNone.


F1000Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 1907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Welch ◽  
Roz Shafran ◽  
Isobel Heyman ◽  
Anna Coughtrey ◽  
Sophie Bennett

Background: Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic paediatric conditions. Children and young people with epilepsy are at a significantly higher risk of developing mental health problems relative to the general population, yet the majority of these problems are unrecognised and under-treated in clinical practice. Although there is little epilepsy-specific guidance as to what interventions to use, researchers suggest there is no reason why clinicians should not be using the evidence base. Given the poor prognosis of untreated mental health difficulties, this cohort study sought to identify what psychological treatment young people with epilepsy with mental health needs receive in routine practice. Methods: Participants were children and young people aged 3 to 18 attending paediatric neurology clinics. The parents of those children who met threshold for impairing symptoms on the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire were asked to complete the Development and Well-being Assessment (DAWBA), an online clinical assessment designed to generate psychiatric diagnoses. Participants who met clinical threshold for a disorder according to the DAWBA were provided with a bespoke measure asking questions regarding their experience with treatment for mental health support. Results: 16 of the 46 parents who completed the DAWBA reported that they had experienced previous or current support for their child’s mental health difficulties. The mental health support offered to families was highly variable, inadequate and often not clearly compliant with existing UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for mental health treatment in children and young people. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates the inconsistency and inadequacy of mental health provision for children and young people with epilepsy. Future work should explore reasons for the treatments offered failing to adhere to existing guidance for mental health difficulties in children, as well as possible solutions to this.


2018 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 632-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter G. van der Velden ◽  
Mauro Pecoraro ◽  
Mijke S. Houwerzijl ◽  
Erik van der Meulen

Whistleblowers play a very important and indispensable role in society and health care sector, but their act may elicit retaliation and other negative effects, which may impact their mental health. The main aim of the present comparative study is to assess to what extent whistleblowers ( N = 27) more often suffer from severe mental health problems than other population-based groups in the Netherlands, i.e., matched controls ( N = 135), cancer patients ( N = 130), persons with (partial) work disabilities ( N = 194), physically “healthy” persons ( N = 200), and general population ( N = 1026), using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey scales (for general mental health) and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised scales (for specific mental health problems: depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, interpersonal sensitivity and distrust, and sleeping problems). Logistic regression analyses showed that the prevalence of general mental health problems was much higher than among matched controls and people with work disabilities but similar to cancer patient when controlling for demographics. About 85% suffered from severe to very severe anxiety, depression, interpersonal sensitivity and distrust, agoraphobia symptoms, and/or sleeping problems, and 48% reached clinical levels of these specific mental health problems. These specific mental health problems were much more prevalent than among the general population.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 329-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Schweizer ◽  
Jenna Parker ◽  
Jovita T. Leung ◽  
Cait Griffin ◽  
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore

AbstractDifficulties in regulating affect are core characteristics of a wide range of mental health conditions and are associated with deficits in cognitive control, particularly in affective contexts, affective control. The current study explored how affective control relates to mental health over the course of adolescence. We developed an Affective Control Task, which was administered to young adolescents (11–14 years; n = 29); mid-adolescents (15–18 years; n = 31), and adults (22–30 years; n = 31). The task required individuals to sort cards according to continuously changing rules: color, number, or item type. There was a neutral condition in which items were shapes, and an affective condition, in which items were emotional facial expressions. Better affective control was associated with fewer mental health difficulties (p < .001, R2 = .15). Affective control partially accounted for the association between age group and mental health problems, z = 2.61, p = .009, Akaike information criterion = 484, with the association being strongest in young adolescents, r (27) = −.44, p = .018. Affective control further accounted for variance in the association between self-reported (but not experimental) emotion regulation and mental health (z = −3.44, p < .001, Akaike information criterion = 440). Poor affective control, especially in young adolescents, is associated with more mental health problems and higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties. Improving affective control therefore may constitute a promising target for prevention.


2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (694) ◽  
pp. e356-e363
Author(s):  
Edmund Coleman-Fountain ◽  
Carole Buckley ◽  
Bryony Beresford

BackgroundAutistic people are at increased risk of developing mental health problems. To reduce the negative impact of living with autism in a non-autistic world, efforts to improve take-up and access to care, and support in early years, which will typically start with a GP appointment, must be grounded in the accounts of autistic young adults.AimTo explore how autistic young adults understand and manage mental health problems; and to consider help seeking as a focus.Design and settingA cross-sectional, qualitative study. Autistic participants were purposively selected to represent a range of mental health conditions including anxiety and depression. A subsample were recruited from a population cohort screened for autism in childhood. The study concerns access to primary care.MethodNineteen autistic young adults without learning disabilities, aged 23 or 24 years, were recruited. In-depth, semi-structured interviews explored how they understood and managed mental health problems. Data were analysed thematically.ResultsYoung adults preferred self-management strategies. Multiple factors contributed to a focus on self-management, including: beliefs about the aetiology of mental health difficulties and increased vulnerability with the context of a diagnosis of autism, knowledge of self-management, and a view that formal support was unavailable or inadequate. Families had limited awareness of professional support.ConclusionYoung autistic adults without learning disabilities, and their families, may hold erroneous beliefs about autism and mental health. This may affect help seeking and contribute to an exacerbation of symptoms. GPs need to be alert to the fact that autistic young adults in their care may be experiencing mental health difficulties but may not recognise them as such.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Tutzer ◽  
Beatrice Frajo-Apor ◽  
Silvia Pardeller ◽  
Barbara Plattner ◽  
Anna Chernova ◽  
...  

Background: COVID-19-related mental health problems are considered a public health challenge. The aim of this study was to investigate psychological distress, loneliness, and boredom among the general population of the federal state of Tyrol, Austria.Methods: Residents of Tyrol aged ≥ 18 years were recruited via dissemination of a link through social media and other advertisements and invited to complete an online survey from June 26th to August 20th, 2020. Next to the collection of sociodemographic and COVID-19 related variables the Brief Symptom Checklist (BSCL), the Three-Item Loneliness Scale (TILS), and the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale-Short Form (MSBS-SF) were used to assess psychological distress, loneliness, and boredom.Results: 961 participants took part in the survey (68.3% woman). Of these, 14.4% were burdened from psychological distress (BSCL), 22.6% reached a TILS score ≥ 7 and were therefore classified as severely lonely, and boredom levels lay by a mean of 25.9 ± 11.0 points in the MSBS-SF (range: 7–56). Women, singles, low-income people as well as those who were unemployed were significantly more often affected by all of the selected outcomes compared to the remaining sample and they had significantly more frequently consumed alcohol or other substances since the outbreak of the pandemic in order to feel better. In addition, young and middle-aged adults were particularly burdened by loneliness and boredom.Discussion: Our findings identify vulnerable groups and factors associated with higher psychological distress, loneliness, and boredom in the context of the pandemic. In order to prevent mental health problems it will be critical to identify options of maintaining social contacts and remaining active despite pandemic-related restrictions.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Bryant ◽  
Jacalyn Guy ◽  
the CALM Team ◽  
Joni Holmes

Children and adolescents with developmental problems are at increased risk of experiencing mental health problems. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is widely used as a screener for detecting mental health difficulties in these populations, but its validity thus far has been restricted to groups of children with diagnosed disorders (e.g. ADHD). Transdiagnostic approaches, which focus on symptoms and soften or remove the boundaries between traditional categorical disorders, are increasingly adopted in research and practice. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of the SDQ to detect mental health problems in a transdiagnostic sample of children. The sample were referred by health and educational professionals for difficulties related to learning (N=389). Some had one diagnosis, others had multiple, but many had no diagnoses. Parent-rated SDQ scores were significantly positively correlated with parent ratings of mental health difficulties on the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS). Ratings on the SDQ Emotion subscale significantly predicted the likelihood of having clinical anxiety and depression scores. Ratings on the Hyperactivity subscale predicted anxiety levels. These findings suggest the SDQ could be a valuable screening tool for identifying mental health difficulties in children recognised as struggling, as it can be in typically developing children and those with specific diagnoses.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document