Mental Disorder Symptoms Among Nurses in Canada

2020 ◽  
pp. 084456212096189
Author(s):  
Andrea M. Stelnicki ◽  
R. Nicholas Carleton

Background Nurses face regular exposures to potentially psychologically traumatic events as part of their occupational responsibilities. Cumulative stress due to repeated exposure to such events is associated with poor mental health and an increased risk of developing clinically significant symptoms consistent with some mental disorders. Purpose The current study was designed to estimate rates of mental disorder symptoms among nurses in Canada and identify demographic characteristics that are associated with increased risk for mental disorder symptoms. Method An online survey was conducted with Canadian nurses in both English and French. Participants were recruited largely through the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) member unions, non-CFNU member unions, and social media. The survey assessed current mental disorder symptoms using well-validated screening measures. Results A total of 4267 participants (93.8% women) completed the survey. Almost half of participants screened positive for a mental disorder (i.e., 47.9%). No gender differences emerged. Significant differences in proportions of positive screens based on each measure were found across demographic groups (e.g., age, province of residence, type of nurse). Conclusions The rate of positive screens appears much higher than mental disorder prevalence rates in the general Canadian population, but there were important methodological differences. The current results provide potentially important information to support researchers and healthcare administrators to investigate possible ways to mitigate and manage mental health in nursing workplaces.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lebenbaum ◽  
Therese A. Stukel ◽  
Natasha Ruth Saunders ◽  
Hong Lu ◽  
Marcelo Urquia ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Gender inequality varies across countries and is associated with poor outcomes including violence against women and depression. Little is known about the relationship of source county gender inequality and poor health outcomes in female immigrants. Methods We used administrative databases to conduct a cohort study of 299,228 female immigrants ages 6–29 years becoming permanent residence in Ontario, Canada between 2003 and 2017 and followed up to March 31, 2020 for severe presentations of suffering assault, and selected mental health disorders (mood or anxiety, self-harm) as measured by hospital visits or death. Poisson regression examined the influence of source-country Gender Inequality Index (GII) quartile (Q) accounting for individual and country level characteristics. Results Immigrants from countries with the highest gender inequality (GII Q4) accounted for 40% of the sample, of whom 83% were from South Asia (SA) or Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The overall rate of assault was 10.9/10,000 person years (PY) while the rate of the poor mental health outcome was 77.5/10,000 PY. Both GII Q2 (Incident Rate Ratio (IRR): 1.48, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.08, 2.01) and GII Q4 (IRR: 1.58, 95%CI: 1.08, 2.31) were significantly associated with experiencing assault but not with poor mental health. For females from countries with the highest gender inequality, there were significant regional differences in rates of assault, with SSA migrants experiencing high rates compared with those from SA. Relative to economic immigrants, refugees were at increased risk of sustaining assaults (IRR: 2.96, 95%CI: 2.32, 3.76) and poor mental health (IRR: 1.73, 95%CI: 1.50, 2.01). Higher educational attainment (bachelor’s degree or higher) at immigration was protective (assaults IRR: 0.64, 95%CI: 0.51, 0.80; poor mental health IRR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.60, 0.80). Conclusion Source country gender inequality is not consistently associated with post-migration violence against women or severe depression, anxiety and self-harm in Ontario, Canada. Community-based research and intervention to address the documented socio-demographic disparities in outcomes of female immigrants is needed.


Author(s):  
Asaf Benjamin ◽  
Yael Kuperman ◽  
Noa Eren ◽  
Ron Rotkopf ◽  
Maya Amitai ◽  
...  

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic poses multiple psychologically stressful challenges and is associated with an increased risk for mental illness. Previous studies have focused on the psychopathological symptoms associated with the outbreak peak. Here, we examined the behavioural and mental-health impact of the pandemic in Israel using an online survey, during the six weeks encompassing the end of the first outbreak and the beginning of the second. We used clinically validated instruments to assess anxiety- and depression-related emotional distress, symptoms, and coping strategies, as well as questions designed to specifically assess COVID-19-related concerns. Higher emotional burden was associated with being female, younger, unemployed, living in high socioeconomic status localities, having prior medical conditions, encountering more people, and experiencing physiological symptoms. Our findings highlight the environmental context and its importance in understanding individual ability to cope with the long-term stressful challenges of the pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina Moltrecht ◽  
Louise J. Dalton ◽  
Jeffrey R. Hanna ◽  
Clare Law ◽  
Elizabeth Rapa

Abstract Young parents (aged 16-24 years) in the perinatal period are at an increased risk of poor mental health especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to multiple risk factors including social and economic instability. COVID-19 related restrictions had profound implications for the delivery of perinatal care services and other support structures for young parents. Investigating young parents’ experiences during the pandemic, including their perceived challenges and needs, is important to inform good practice and provide appropriate support for young parents. Qualitative interviews were conducted with young parents (n=21) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom from February – May 2021. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Three key themes were identified to describe parents’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents reported specific COVID-19 related anxieties and stressors, including worries around contracting the virus and increased feelings of distress due to uncertainty created by the implications of the pandemic. Parents described feeling alone both at home and during antenatal appointments and highlighted the absence of social support as a major area of concern. Also, parents felt their perinatal care had been disrupted by the pandemic and experienced difficulties accessing care online or over the phone. This study highlights the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young parents, including their mental wellbeing and the perinatal support they were able to access. Insights from this study can inform the support and services offered to families going forward. Specifically, the findings emphasise the importance of (a) supporting both parents during perinatal appointments, (b) providing parents with mental health support early on and (c) finding ways to facilitate communication pathways between professionals and parents.


Author(s):  
Aideen Maguire ◽  
Anne Kouvonen ◽  
Dermot O'Reilly ◽  
Hanna Remes ◽  
Joonas Pitkänen ◽  
...  

BackgroundResearch has highlighted the poor mental health of looked after children compared to those never in care. However, little is known on what becomes of these children and their mental health trajectories after they leave the care of social services. In addition, previous studies are limited in their ability to differentiate between type of social care intervention received; kinship care, foster care or residential care. AimTo utilise nationwide social services data from two countries (Northern Ireland (NI) and Finland), with similar populations but different intervention policies, linked to a range of demographic and health datasets to examine the mental health outcomes of young adults in the years following leaving care. MethodsData from both countries on children born 1991-2000 were linked to social services data, hospital admissions, prescribed medication data and death records. Mental health outcomes were defined after the age of 18years (when statutory care provision ends) examined by care intervention and included admissions to psychiatric hospital, for self-harm and death by suicide. ResultsThe gender split in care in Finland is reflective of the population but more males are in care in NI. Initial results from Finnish data suggest those exposed to care in childhood have an increased risk of self-harm, psychiatric hospital admission and suicide after the age of 18years compared to those never in care. After adjusting for gender, age of entry to care and deprivation at birth those exposed to any care intervention had 3 times the risk of suicide (HR=3.06, 95% CI 1.18,7.98). Risk increased with duration in care but was equivalent across care intervention types. Analysis on the NI data is underway. ConclusionFull results will be available December 2019 and will explore which care pathways are most associated with poor mental health outcomes informing discussion around intervention opportunities and policy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christi J. Guerrini ◽  
Sophie C. Schneider ◽  
Andrew G. Guzick ◽  
Gifty N. Amos Nwankwo ◽  
Isabel Canfield ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a significant global toll on emotional well-being, but evidence of mental health impacts in the United States remains limited. In April 2020, we conducted an exploratory survey of U.S. residents to understand prevalence of and factors associated with psychological distress during the pandemic. Data collection was conducted using Qualtrics, an online survey platform, and U.S. adult respondents were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform. Among 1,366 respondents, 42% (n = 571) reported clinically significant anxiety and 38% (n = 519) reported clinically significant depression. Factors associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms included Hispanic/Latino ethnicity; younger age; lower income; employment as or living with a health care worker-first responder; caregiver status; SARS-CoV-2 infection status; decreased frequency of engagement in healthy behaviors; and changed frequency of engagement in unhealthy behaviors. That some of these factors are associated with elevated distress during the pandemic is not yet widely appreciated and might be useful in informing management of mental health care resources.


Author(s):  
Kerry Sudom ◽  
Eva Guérin ◽  
Jennifer E. C. Lee

Lay Summary The challenges associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have the potential to not only adversely affect mental health in general, but also to emphasize and widen disparities in mental health across demographic groups. In particular, research suggests that women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic psychologically, socially, and economically. However, the state of mental health in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) during the pandemic and the impacts of gender on mental health outcomes are currently unknown. This study uses data collected early in the pandemic to examine the state of mental health of CAF Regular Force members and the impacts of gender and family status. Although most members were doing well, a notable minority were experiencing mental health issues at potentially clinically significant levels, with women more likely to experience depression and anxiety than men and women with children less likely to experience functional impairment as a result of their symptoms. The findings provide a snapshot of the mental health of Regular Force members during the pandemic and suggest the importance of considering gender and family situation in understanding mental health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Faridah Amin ◽  
Salman Sharif ◽  
Rabeeya Saeed ◽  
Noureen Durrani ◽  
Daniyal Jilani

Abstract Background COVID-19 is a global pandemic and has become a major public health burden worldwide. With already fragile healthcare systems it can have long lasting effects in developing countries. Outbreaks especially a pandemic situation evokes fear related behaviors among healthcare professionals and there is always an increased risk of mental health disorders. Therefore, this study aims to determine knowledge and perception about this pandemic, prevalence and factors associated with anxiety/depression among frontline physicians of Pakistan. Methods Data were collected through an online survey released in the last week of March-2020. 389 frontline physicians from all four provinces and 65 cities of Pakistan participated. Survey questionnaire consisted of 4 parts including informed consent section, demographic section, knowledge and perception about COVID-19 pandemic and assessment of depression through World Health Organization Self-reporting questionnaire (SRQ-20). A score of 8 or above on SRQ-20 was used as cut-off to label the participant as depressed. Data was analyzed using SPSS version22. Results A 43% prevalence of anxiety/depression among frontline physicians of Pakistan was reported. Almost all the doctors had moderate to high knowledge score. Majority of participants marked N-95 mask as “essential” during aerosol generating procedures, assessing patients with respiratory symptoms, in COVID patient-care area, ER triage and direct care of COVID-19 patient. Only 12% of the doctors were fully satisfied with the provision of PPEs and almost 94% felt unprotected. In multivariable model, assessing more than five COVID suspects/day (aOR = 2.73, 95% CI: 1.65–4.52), working 20 h/week or less (aOR = 2.11, 1.27–3.49), having children among household members (aOR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.00–2.50) and moderate to low knowledge of the infection (aOR = 2.69, 95% CI: 1.68–4.31) were found to be independent predictors of anxiety/depression among physicians. Conclusion Anxiety/depression among more than a third of frontline doctors of Pakistan warrants the need to address mental health of doctors caring for patients during this pandemic; control modifiable factors associated with it and explore the effectiveness of interventions to promote psychological well-being of physicians.


Author(s):  
Xiao Cheng ◽  
Mengna Song ◽  
Jingxia Kong ◽  
Xinglin Fang ◽  
Yuqing Ji ◽  
...  

To examine the effects of prolonged visual display terminal (VDT) working hours and exercise frequency on VDT-related symptoms, we recruited 944 Chinese internet staff for the study. A self-administered questionnaire survey was used to obtain the hours of daily VDT work, exercise frequency, and the physical and mental health of the participants. The daily VDT working time of participants was 8.7 hours. Musculoskeletal pain and eye complaints were prevalent, and the participants had poor mental health status. When daily VDT operation time was more than 11 hours, VDT-related symptoms, including backache (odds ratios (OR) = 3.59), wrist pain (OR = 1.88), hip pain (OR = 2.42), dry eyes (OR = 2.22), and ocular soreness (OR = 2.16) were more likely to occur, and an increased risk of serious occupational stress (OR = 6.75) and job burnout (OR = 2.66) was found in internet workers. Compared with those who never exercised, appropriate exercise frequency (three times per week) was helpful to relieve pain in the shoulders (OR = 0.28), neck (OR = 0.45), back (OR = 0.30), lower back (OR = 0.25), and wrists (OR = 0.38), as well as to prevent vision loss (OR = 0.33) and job burnout (OR = 0.42). Therefore, avoiding excessive VDT exposure and performing moderate exercise could protect the physical and mental health of internet staff from the adverse effects of VDT.


Author(s):  
Carlos Laranjeira ◽  
Maria Anjos Dixe ◽  
Olga Valentim ◽  
Zaida Charepe ◽  
Ana Querido

The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant psychological impact on vulnerable groups, particularly students. The present study aims to investigate the mental and psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated factors in a sample of Portuguese higher education students. An online cross-sectional study was conducted among 1522 higher education students selected by convenience sampling. The survey assessed mental health symptoms as well as sociodemographic variables, health-related perceptions, and psychological factors. Results were fitted to binary and multivariable logistic regression models. The overall prevalences of stress, anxiety, and depression were 35.7%, 36.2%, and 28.5%, respectively. Poor mental health outcomes were related with being female, having no children, living with someone with chronic disease, facing hopelessness, and lacking resilient coping. Future studies focusing on better ways to promote mental health and wellbeing among students are warranted. It is necessary to gather more evidence on the post-pandemic mental health using robust study designs and standardized assessment tools.


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