P014 Shift work disorder and the prevalence of help seeking behaviours for sleep concerns in Australia

Abstract Introduction Shift work disorder is a circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorder, defined by symptoms of insomnia and excessive levels of sleepiness resulting from work that occurs during non-standard hours. Sleep problems are common in shift workers, yet our understanding of help-seeking behaviours for sleep in shift workers is limited. Methods As a part of a national sleep health survey, data were collected on the help-seeking behaviours for sleep problems in an online sample of Australian individuals on non-standard work schedules (n=448). Of the sample of non-standard workers, 10.5% (n=41) met the criteria for probable shift work disorder (pSWD). Results Non-standard workers with pSWD did not seek help for sleep problems at higher rates than workers without SWD (p = .979). General practitioners were the most reported healthcare professional sought out for sleep problems of individuals with pSWD. Self-management was common in workers with pSWD, with a high self-reported prevalence of alcohol use (31.7%) as a sleep management strategy, and caffeine consumption (76.9%) as a sleepiness management strategy. The majority of individuals with pSWD reported the mentality of ‘accept it and keep going’ as a sleepiness management strategy, highlighting a potential barrier to help-seeking behaviour in workers with pSWD. Discussion These findings provide novel insight into the help-seeking behaviours of individuals with pSWD. There is a need for further research to understand why individuals at risk for shift work disorder are not actively seeking help, and to develop health promotion and intervention strategies to improve engagement with healthcare professionals.

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Excessive Sleepiness and Self-Reported Shift Work Disorder: An Internet Survey of Shift Workers

Postgraduate Medicine ◽

10.3810/pgm.2013.05.2669 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 125 (3) ◽

pp. 162-171 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Joseph A. Lieberman ◽

Lauren Sylvester ◽

Sharon Paik

Keyword(s):

Shift Work ◽

Internet Survey ◽

Shift Workers ◽

Shift Work Disorder ◽

Excessive Sleepiness

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Changes in stigma and help-seeking in relation to postpartum depression: non-clinical parenting intervention sample

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.5893 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. e5893 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Einar B. Thorsteinsson ◽

Natasha M. Loi ◽

Kathryn Farr

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Postpartum Depression ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Intervention Group ◽

Parenting Intervention ◽

Control Group ◽

Video Documentary ◽

High Incidence ◽

Help Seeking Behaviour ◽

Seeking Help

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a prevalent mental illness affecting women, and less commonly, men in the weeks and months after giving birth. Despite the high incidence of PPD in Australia, rates for help-seeking remain low, with stigma and discrimination frequently cited as the most common deterrents to seeking help from a professional source. The present study sought to investigate PPD stigma in a sample of parents and to examine the effects of an intervention on stigma and help-seeking behaviour. A total of 212 parents aged 18–71 years (M = 36.88, 194 females) completed measures of personal and perceived PPD stigma and attitudes towards seeking mental health services and were randomly assigned to one of four groups: an intervention group (video documentary or factsheet related to PPD) or a control group (video documentary or factsheet not related to PPD). Results showed that there were no effects for type of intervention on either personal or perceived PPD stigma scores. No effect was found for help-seeking propensity. Males had higher personal PPD stigma than females and older age was associated with lower personal PPD stigma. Familiarity with PPD was associated with perceived PPD stigma in others but not personal PPD stigma. More work needs to be conducted to develop interventions to reduce PPD stigma in the community.

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Experience of Intimate Partner Violence and Help-Seeking Behaviour among Women in Uganda

Psych ◽

10.3390/psych1010013 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 182-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Bishwajit Ghose ◽

Sanni Yaya

Keyword(s):

Intimate Partner Violence ◽

Health Survey ◽

Alcohol Drinking ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Intimate Partner ◽

Demographic And Health Survey ◽

Healthcare Use ◽

Help Seeking Behaviour ◽

Seeking Help

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is recognised as a fundamental violation of women’s human rights and a widespread phenomenon in Africa. Women’s low socioeconomic empowerment, cultural acceptability, and lack of social support exacerbate the health and psychosocial outcomes of IPV among African women. To date, there is no systematic research on IPV and its association with healthcare use among adult women in Uganda. Therefore, we conducted the present study on IPV among Ugandan women of childbearing age (15–49 years). Cross-sectional data on 7536 women were collected from the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS—Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2016). The objectives were to assess the predictors of IPV as well as help-seeking behaviour for victims of IPV. IPV was assessed by women’s experience of physical, emotional and sexual violence and healthcare use was assessed by self-reported medical visits during the last 12 months. Logistic regression methods were used to analyse the data. According to descriptive findings, which showed that more than half of the women reported experiencing any IPV (55.3%, 95%CI = 53.6, 57.0), emotional IPV (41.2%, 95%CI = 39.6, 42.8) was the most prevalent of all three categories, followed by physical (39.3%, 95%CI = 37.7, 40.9) and sexual IPV (22.0%, 95%CI = 20.7, 23.3). In the multivariate analysis, higher age, rural residence, religious background (non-Christian), ethnicity (Banyankore and Itseo), secondary/higher education and husband’s alcohol drinking habit were positively associated with women’s experience of IPV. Husband’s alcohol drinking was found to be a significant barrier to seeking help among those who experienced IPV. In conclusion, our findings suggest a noticeably high prevalence of IPV among Ugandan women. There are important sociodemographic and cultural patterns in the occurrence of IPV that need to be taken into account when designing intervention policies. Special attention should be given to women living with husbands/partners who drink alcohol, as this might increase their odds of experiencing IPV, as well as reduce the likelihood of seeking help.

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Predictors of professional help-seeking for emotional problems in Afghan and Iraqi refugees in Australia: findings from the Building a New Life in Australia Database

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-019-7673-5 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Shameran Slewa-Younan ◽

Pilar Rioseco ◽

Maria Gabriela Uribe Guajardo ◽

Jonathan Mond

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Emotional Problems ◽

Poor Mental Health ◽

Professional Help ◽

Face To Face ◽

Migration Trauma ◽

General Psychological Distress ◽

Help Seeking Behaviour ◽

Seeking Help

Abstract Background Refugees are particularly vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes due to exposure to pre migration trauma and post migration stressors. Research has demonstrated evidence to suggest that the professional help-seeking among refugee groups is low or problematic. This study seeks to examine help-seeking for emotional problems in two large samples of Iraqi and Afghan refugees in Australia. Methods This study uses data from two waves of the Building a New Life in Australia, the longitudinal study of Humanitarian migrants. The data was collected face-to-face between 2013 and 2016, among humanitarian migrants. All participants held a permanent protection visa and had arrived in Australia or been granted their visa between period of May to December 2013. The study sample included 1288 participants born in Iraq and Afghanistan (aged 15 and over). In the Wave 3 interview (2015–2016) participants reported on professional help received to deal with emotional problems. Results Approximately 36 and 37% of the Iraqi and Afghan groups respectively, reported seeking help for emotional problems. Within the Iraqi group, associations between mental health status, namely general psychological distress and PTSD and help-seeking were found but this was not present in the Afghan group, where age seemed to play a role in help-seeking. Frequency of help received was low with approximately 47% of the Iraqi and 57% of the Afghan groups reporting having received help 5 times or less in the last 12 months. Conclusions Findings from this study provide clear directions on areas where culturally tailored mental health promotion programs should target in these two refugee communities. Further, the differences in help-seeking behaviour of these communities should be noted by both clinicians and policy makers as efforts to provide culturally responsive mental health services.

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The role of sleep hygiene in the risk of Shift Work Disorder in nurses

SLEEP ◽

10.1093/sleep/zsz228 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Lauren A Booker ◽

Maree Barnes ◽

Pasquale Alvaro ◽

Allison Collins ◽

Ching Li Chai-Coetzer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Risk ◽

Shift Work ◽

Psychological Health ◽

Odds Ratio ◽

Sleep Hygiene ◽

Low Risk ◽

Shift Workers ◽

Hygiene Practices ◽

Shift Work Disorder ◽

Unit Increase

Abstract A high proportion (20%–30%) of shift workers experience Shift Work Disorder (SWD), characterized by chronic sleepiness and/or insomnia associated with work schedules. The reasons for individual variation in shift work tolerance are not well understood, however. The aim of this study was to identify individual factors that contribute to the risk of SWD. Nurses (n = 202) were categorized as low or high risk of SWD based on the Shift Work Disorder Questionnaire. Participants provided demographic and lifestyle information and completed the Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI) and Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). High risk of SWD was associated with poorer sleep hygiene (SHI, 35.41 ± 6.19 vs. 31.49 ± 7.08, p < .0001) and greater eveningness (MEQ, 34.73 ± 6.13 vs. 37.49 ± 6.45, p = .005) compared to low risk. No other factors, including body mass index, marital status, having children, or caffeine or alcohol intake were significant. Logistic regression showed that SHI was the most significant contributing factor to SWD risk (odds ratio [OR] = 1.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04 to 1.14). Standardized odds ratio further revealed that with every unit increase on the SHI score, the odds of being at high risk of SWD increased by 80% (OR = 1.84). Most individuals at high risk of SWD reported “always” or “frequently” going to bed at different times (79%) and waking at different times (83%; compared to 58%, p = .017, and 61%, p = .002, respectively for the low-risk group), as well as going to bed stressed/angry (67% vs. 41%, p < .0001) and/or planning/worrying in bed (54% vs. 22%, p < .0001). Interventions aimed at improving sleep hygiene practices and psychological health of shift workers may help reduce the risk of SWD.

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Mental health among clinicians: what do we know and what can we do?

International Urogynecology Journal ◽

10.1007/s00192-021-04805-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mittal Patel ◽

Steven Swift ◽

Alex Digesu

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Mental Health Disorders ◽

Mental Wellbeing ◽

Help Seeking Behaviour ◽

Seeking Help ◽

Health Disorders ◽

Medical Teams ◽

Changing Attitudes

AbstractMental health and mental health disorders among clinicians remain a taboo, despite increasing evidence showing the direct impact on medical teams and patient care. This editorial is aimed at increasing awareness of mental issues amongst healthcare professionals, identifying perceived barriers to seeking help, and suggesting ways in which to seek help. Mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression, are prevalent from medical school, leading to increased burnout and suicide risks at later stages of a clinician’s career. There is often a reluctance to seek help, particularly amongst the surgical specialties, caused by self-criticism, lack of convenient access and the potential negative impact on medical licensure. This editorial has been written in loving memory of our colleague, friend and board member Dr. Nikolaus Veit-Rubin, who sadly passed away at the beginning of the year. It is written in the hope of highlighting the importance of maintaining mental wellbeing amongst the medical team, supporting help-seeking behaviour and changing attitudes toward mental health disorders amongst clinicians.

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Voices of torture survivors in Tanzania: A qualitative study

Torture Journal ◽

10.7146/torture.v28i3.111199 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 92-103

Author(s):

Maha Aon ◽

Harold Sungusia ◽

Marie Brasholt ◽

Brenda Van Den Bergh ◽

Jens Modvig

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Research ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Sleep Problems ◽

Dar Es Salaam ◽

Torture Survivors ◽

Psychological Consequences ◽

Public Authorities ◽

Help Seeking Behaviour ◽

Gun Shot

Introduction: No published research has been found on torture in Tanzania, but individual cases were documented by human rights organisations. The aim of this study was to explore the salient physical, mental and social effects of torture in the country, and help-seeking behaviour by giving voice to a group of torture survivors in Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar City (Zanzibar). Methods: This explorative qualitative study consisted of 14 semi-structured in-depth interviews (12 males, 2 females) of which eight took place in Dar-es-Salaam and six in Zanzibar. Informants were selected purposefully through a mix of snowball and convenience sampling. Both the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) and the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) were followed. Results: Using the UNCAT definition of torture, all informants reported having been tortured within the past two years. The most common form of torture was beating with clubs to the joints. Other torture included, but was not limited to, gun shot, toenail removal and ‘poulet roti’. The most common physical consequence was persistent pain. Psychological consequences included suicidal ideation and sleep problems. Most interviewees lost their jobs as a result of the torture incident, instigating a cascade of financial and social problems. Conclusion: The findings present informants’ exposure to deliberate torture at the hands of public authorities. Informants confirmed their exposure to torture methods that had been previously reported by nongovernmental organisations. They also talked about exposure to more advanced, and previously undocumented, torture methods. Informants displayed a dire need for mental and physical health care, but had limited access to such care. Research is needed to better understand the magnitude, prevalence and context of torture in Tanzania.

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She Works Hard for Her Sleep

Sleep Disorders ◽

10.1093/med/9780190671099.003.0050 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 853-866

Author(s):

Robon Vanek ◽

Nancy Kempke

Keyword(s):

Shift Work ◽

Light Exposure ◽

Poor Sleep ◽

Short Sleep Duration ◽

Shift Workers ◽

Shift Work Disorder ◽

Excessive Sleepiness ◽

Quality Sleep ◽

Sleep Environment ◽

Rhythm Disorder

Shift work and long work hours, such as 12-hour shifts, can disturb sleep and circadian rhythms. Shift work disorder is a circadian rhythm disorder in which excessive sleepiness and/or insomnia due to work schedule occur. There is a circadian misalignment between the timing of the sleep/wake schedule and the circadian pressures for sleep and wakefulness. Between 10% and 38% of nightshift and rotating shift workers experience shift work disorder. There can be interruptions during sleep caused by light, noise, and social obligations when sleep occurs at unusual times, resulting in a short sleep duration/inadequate sleep and poor sleep quality. Sleep logs provide valuable information. To improve the quantity and quality of sleep, the sleep environment and timing of light exposure need to be optimized, and limiting interruptions during sleep is recommended. Wake-promoting agents such as armodafinil prior to work may be needed for fatigue management. Validated tools can aid in diagnosis, and there may be an underutilization of sleep specialists in these patients.

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Prevalence of Probable Shift Work Disorder in Non-Standard Work Schedules and Associations with Sleep, Health and Safety Outcomes: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Nature and Science of Sleep ◽

10.2147/nss.s301493 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol Volume 13 ◽

pp. 683-693

Author(s):

Amy C Reynolds ◽

Sally A Ferguson ◽

Sarah L Appleton ◽

Meagan E Crowther ◽

Yohannes Adama Melaku ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Shift Work ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Work Schedules ◽

Sleep Health ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Standard Work ◽

Cross Sectional Analysis ◽

Shift Work Disorder ◽

Safety Outcomes ◽

Sectional Analysis

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https://threequayspublishing.com/product/exploring-the-use-of-safety-strategies-by-victims-of-interpersonal-violence-a-systematic-review/

Abuse: An International Impact Journal ◽

10.37576/abuse.2021.024 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 33-54

Author(s):

Thomas Nally ◽

◽

Jane L. Ireland ◽

Philip Birch ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Interpersonal Violence ◽

Partner Violence ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Seeking Safety ◽

Multiple Strategies ◽

Safety Strategies ◽

Help Seeking Behaviour ◽

Seeking Help ◽

And Coping

This systematic review analysed 61 papers, from an initial search result of 3,540 papers, to explore how victims of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and interpersonal violence manage their victimisation. The review yielded five themes, centred on evidence for safety strategies adopted by those affected by IPV or interpersonal violence. These comprised; Victims seek help following interpersonal violence; Victims of interpersonal violence experience barriers to seeking help; Victims use multiple strategies to manage experiences of abuse; Victims of interpersonal violence cope in multiple ways; The help-seeking behaviours of victims are contextual. The findings indicated that victims of IPV and interpersonal violence utilise a range of strategies, including help-seeking, safety enhancing strategies and coping strategies, in response to their victimisation. It also indicated that there are significant barriers preventing help-seeking and victimisation reporting. The findings are discussed in relation to the help seeking behaviour of victims and how this may be impacted by barriers at different stages of the help-seeking process.

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