scholarly journals 1514Racial discrimination and anxiety symptoms in adolescents and young adults: a five-wave longitudinal analyses

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Feijó ◽  
Caroline Feitosa ◽  
Leonardo Salvi ◽  
Aline Gusmão ◽  
Felipe Campos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal Study ◽  
Perceived Racial Discrimination ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal

Abstract Background Racism is a major public health issue and may be associated with several mental health outcomes. However, more epidemiological analyses are necessary on the theme, particularly longitudinal studies. Therefore, we aimed to examine the association between perceived racial discrimination and anxiety symptoms during adolescence and young adulthood in a Brazilian metropolitan area. Methods A five-wave prospective longitudinal study started in 2000. Individuals were aged from 10 to 21 years at baseline, with clustered random sampling. Questions about the experience of racial discrimination were asked. PHQ-9 evaluated anxiety symptoms. Repeated measures analysis with GEE (Generalized Estimating Equations) estimated adjusted relative risks. Results There were 979 adolescents at baseline, with 19.9% (n = 195) reporting perceived racial discrimination and 26.5% (n = 259) with anxiety symptoms. A positive association was found between the perception of racism and anxiety symptoms, after adjustment for sex and age. When adding socioeconomic status, work and adverse environmental conditions, in the final adjusted model, the association was not substantially affected (RR = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.30-1.79). Conclusions The fight against racism and different types of discrimination and racial violence are urgent for public health. To assure high levels of ethical values and respect for fundamental human rights is still a challenge in the Brazilian society, still marked by the historical and shameful experience of slavery. Public policies, including health policies, in particular, must target the elimination racial discrimination as a central topic, reducing its consequences for mental health of black population. Key messages This study advances by adding a longitudinal analysis to a theme with a lack of epidemiological studies, especially longitudinal ones, contributing to the understanding of the association between racism in adolescence and mental health. The findings highlight the urgent need to fight racial discrimination as an ethical paradigm, reducing severe consequences of this type of violence on mental health.

Exclusive Breastfeeding Moderates the Association Between Prenatal and Postpartum Depression

2021 ◽  
pp. 089033442199105
Author(s):  
Bárbara Figueiredo ◽  
Tiago Miguel Pinto ◽  
Raquel Costa
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Postpartum Depression ◽  
Exclusive Breastfeeding ◽  
Maternal Mental Health ◽  
Prenatal Depression ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal

Background Exclusive breastfeeding has a wide range of benefits for maternal health. However, the benefit of exclusive breastfeeding for maternal mental health needs to be further explored. Research Aim To determine the moderating role of exclusive breastfeeding at 3 months on the association between prenatal and postpartum depression. Methods This study had a prospective, longitudinal, and comparative design with two groups and three assessment waves. The sample comprised 334 participants (70 depressed and 264 non-depressed) recruited at public health services in northern Portugal. Participants completed a measure of depression symptoms between the second and the third trimester of pregnancy and between 3 and 6 months, and a measure of breastfeeding status at 3 months. Results Exclusive breastfeeding at 3 months moderated the association between prenatal and postpartum depression. Participants with prenatal depression who were exclusively breastfeeding at 3 months showed fewer symptoms of depression and lower rates of depression between 3 and 6 months postpartum, compared to participants with prenatal depression who were not exclusively breastfeeding. Participants without prenatal depression who were exclusively breastfeeding at 3 months showed similar depression symptoms and similar rates of depression between 3 and 6 months postpartum, compared to participants without prenatal depression who were not exclusively breastfeeding. Conclusion Exclusive breastfeeding has a potential protective influence on postpartum depression among women with prenatal depression. Public health policies targeting women with prenatal depression should be implemented and include practices to promote and support exclusive breastfeeding in order to enhance women’s exclusive breastfeeding and mental health.

scholarly journals Endemicity of malaria in rural areas: A prospective longitudinal study in India

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
Mohammad Athar Ansari ◽  
Iqbal Mohd Khan
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Presumptive Treatment ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal Study ◽  
Medical College ◽  
Paramedical Staff ◽  
Increasing Trend ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal

The aim of the study is to assess the magnitude of the problem and certain epidemiological factors associated with malaria and examine the changing pattern of malaria through its parameters of measurement during 2009-2011. The study was carried out at the Rural Health Training Center (RHTC), under the J. N. Medical College, Aligarh Mus-lim University, Aligarh, (India) for three years from 1st January 2009 to 31st December 2011. Teams of doctors and paramedical staff regularly visited the villages. If any person was found to be suffering from fever, his/her blood was examined for the malaria parasite. Patients were given presumptive treatment and radical treatment if slides were positive. The findings of the study demonstrated that the number of malaria cases increased during the study period, but in the year 2010, a sudden upsurge was noticed. Out of 5594 patients, most of the patients seen were in the age group of 11-20 years (34.3%). P. vivax (96.2%) was the most common malaria infection in these areas. An increasing trend of malaria was seen from July to October. Most of the parameters of malaria measurement in-creased many folds in 2010 and showed a declining trend in 2011. The overall findings of the study indicated the high endemicity of malaria in the study area and demonstrated a changing pattern of malaria in the registered vil-lages as most of the parameters of malaria measurement increased. An integrated approach is needed which in-cludes mass survey or active surveillance, and appropriate drug therapy to tackle this public health problem. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v2i2.15940 South East Asia J Public Health | Jul-Dec 2012 | Vol 2 Issue 2 | 28-33

scholarly journals Impact of Educational Weaning Knowledge and Practices of Parents and Guardians of Children under Two Years Old at the David Rose Health Centre

2019 ◽  
pp. 21-22
Author(s):  
Padmini Bissessar ◽  
Kenesha Adams ◽  
Gina Chin ◽  
Sheena Chin ◽  
Paul Garraway ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Educational Intervention ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Health Centre ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
World Health ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal Study ◽  
Repeated Measures Design ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal

Objectives: To assess the knowledge of weaning, of parents and guardians, of children under two-years-old, attending David Rose Health Centre. To assess whether there is an association between selected demographic variables, and the weaning knowledge. To educate the parents and guardians on the World Health Organisation recommended weaning practices. To assess the change in knowledge of weaning after the delivery of an educational intervention. Design and Methods: A prospective longitudinal study with repeated measures design obtained 120 participants using a convenient, non-probability sampling method. Data was collected using a pre-intervention and post-intervention questionnaire. The data was processed using the SPSS Version 24 Software Program and analysed with a scoring system developed by the researchers using the PAHO/WHO “Guiding Principles for Complementary Feeding of the Breastfed Child”. Results: Both educational interventions increased the participants knowledge from good to almost 100%. Conclusions: Most parents and guardians had good baseline knowledge. However, there were certain aspects where they lacked or had inaccurate knowledge. Overall, their knowledge improved regardless of the type of educational intervention they were exposed to. Recommendations: Future studies should be held in classroom settings, with more time allowed to assess change of knowledge.

Mental Health as Public Health in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuella Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Public Intervention ◽  
National Public Health

In Brazil, the national public health apparatus became one of the most agile and expansive regulatory mechanisms of control and care during the 19th and early 20th centuries. As Brazilian doctors and social thinkers made public health central to their ideas of modernizing the nation, they simultaneously sought to challenge the notion that Brazil’s sociocultural and racial-ethnic diversity was an insurmountable obstacle to modernization. They conceived of public health as something greater than the sum of its parts, seeing it is as the best prescription for national unity and fundamental to the project of nation-building, not only as a series of practices, outcomes, and beliefs. Proto-psychiatrists, recognizing the ideological momentum and bureaucratic strength of public health, seized upon it as a means and a rationale to ground their therapeutic ideas and treatments. Their characterization of the indigent mentally ill on city streets in Rio de Janeiro as a public health issue politicized both the mentally ill and mental illness as subjects of public intervention. Fashioning themselves as the leading experts in this effort, they garnered the support of state officials and other doctors to create a series of public institutions, organizations, and other measures to treat the mentally ill as unitary intersections of psychiatry and public health. While Brazilian psychiatrists during the late 19th and 20th centuries surely went into private practice, professional psychiatry in Rio as a field turned toward returning irrational minds to reason and “civilizing” the publicly unwell—dual and deeply complex goals of the profession. Public health offered them a preexisting muscular infrastructure through which to practice their medical knowledge and, in so doing, allowed them to expand and legitimize their professional reach. So, under the auspices of an enterprising psychiatric field, mental health largely became public health.

Going outdoors, neighbourhood satisfaction and mental health and wellbeing during a COVID-19 lockdown: A fixed-effects analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Stock ◽  
Feifei Bu ◽  
Daisy Fancourt ◽  
Hei Wan Mak
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Living Arrangement ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Social Study ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Longitudinal Association ◽  
The Uk

The COVID-19 pandemic led to national lockdowns in countries around the world. Whilst lockdowns were shown to be effective in reducing the spread of disease, they were also associated with adverse effects on people’s mental health and wellbeing. Previous studies have suggested that time spent outside may have played a role in mitigating these negative effects, but research on this topic remains limited. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the longitudinal associations between going outdoors and people’s mental health and wellbeing during the first national lockdown (March-May 2020) in the UK. Data from 35,301 participants from the COVID-19 Social Study were analysed. Fixed effects regression was used to explore the longitudinal association between changes in going outdoors (the number of days spent outside) and changes in depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, life satisfaction and loneliness. A range of household and neighbourhood moderators were examined. Results show that an increase in the number of days spent outside was associated with decreases in depressive and anxiety symptoms and an increase in life satisfaction. No longitudinal association was found with loneliness. Further analysis revealed some moderating effects of household and neighbourhood factors, including living arrangement, perceived walkability satisfaction, and satisfaction with green space/park within neighbourhood. Overall, our analyses showed a positive association between going outdoors and improved mental health and wellbeing during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK. Associations were more salient amongst people living with others, and those with greater satisfaction with their neighbourhood walkability and green spaces. These findings are important for formulating guidance for people to stay well at home during pandemics and for the on-going nature-based social prescribing scheme.

scholarly journals Changes in Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Response to COVID-19 and Their Associations with Mental Health in 3052 US Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 6469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Meyer ◽  
Cillian McDowell ◽  
Jeni Lansing ◽  
Cassandra Brower ◽  
Lee Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Sedentary Behavior ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Anxiety Symptoms ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Societal Changes ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic altered many facets of life. We aimed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19-related public health guidelines on physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior, mental health, and their interrelations. Cross-sectional data were collected from 3052 US adults 3–8 April 2020 (from all 50 states). Participants self-reported pre- and post-COVID-19 levels of moderate and vigorous PA, sitting, and screen time. Currently-followed public health guidelines, stress, loneliness, positive mental health (PMH), social connectedness, and depressive and anxiety symptoms were self-reported. Participants were grouped by meeting US PA guidelines, reporting ≥8 h/day of sitting, or ≥8 h/day of screen time, pre- and post-COVID-19. Overall, 62% of participants were female, with age ranging from 18–24 (16.6% of sample) to 75+ (9.3%). Self-reported PA was lower post-COVID among participants reporting being previously active (mean change: −32.3% [95% CI: −36.3%, −28.1%]) but largely unchanged among previously inactive participants (+2.3% [−3.5%, +8.1%]). No longer meeting PA guidelines and increased screen time were associated with worse depression, loneliness, stress, and PMH (p < 0.001). Self-isolation/quarantine was associated with higher depressive and anxiety symptoms compared to social distancing (p < 0.001). Maintaining and enhancing physical activity participation and limiting screen time increases during abrupt societal changes may mitigate the mental health consequences.

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