Associations Between Interpersonal Violence, Psychological Distress, and Suicidal Ideation Among Formerly Incarcerated Men and Women

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052093304
Author(s):  
Madeleine Newman ◽  
Lisa Fedina ◽  
Boyoung Nam ◽  
Jordan DeVylder ◽  
Binta Alleyne-Green

Survivors of interpersonal violence are at increased risk of negative mental health outcomes; however, scant research has explored the relationship between violence exposure and mental health symptoms among formerly incarcerated individuals. This cross-sectional survey study investigates the demographic characteristics and mental health symptoms (i.e., psychological distress and suicidal ideation) associated with interpersonal violence exposure, including physical and sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, and sexual violence perpetrated by prison employees in a sample of formerly incarcerated men and women, with the aim that the findings both deepen the understanding of the effects of sexual violence exposure and help inform prison and jail policies. Surveys were administered to English-speaking adults ages 18 and older to recruit a sample of adults who were formerly incarcerated ( N = 201). Questions on the survey included questions regarding demographic details, sexual violence exposure, mental health symptoms, and time incarcerated. Findings show that higher levels of sexual violence exposure were significantly associated with higher levels of psychological distress and reporting of suicidal ideation. Results also suggest that higher levels of income and education and younger age were significantly associated with sexual violence perpetrated by prison employees. In addition, most forms of interpersonal violence were independently associated with psychological distress and suicidal ideation in this population. The findings make recommendations for prison and jail policies to include targeted treatment for individuals with sexual victimization histories, to mitigate the risk of revictimization and appropriately treat adverse mental health outcomes from sexual victimization within and outside the confines of incarceration.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. e001043
Author(s):  
Özgür Kilic ◽  
Sean Carmody ◽  
Judith Upmeijer ◽  
Gino M M J Kerkhoffs ◽  
Rosemary Purcell ◽  
...  

ObjectiveDetermining the prevalence of mental health symptoms (MHS) among Australian professional footballers compared with former players. A secondary aim was to assess whether MHS were associated with recent injury and psychological resilience.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 149 male (mean age: 24 years) and 132 female (mean age: 23 years) Australian A-League and W-League professional footballers (study group) and 81 former male footballers (control group, mean age: 39 years) for analysis. MHS and psychological resilience were assessed through validated questionnaires. Severe injuries were assessed through a single question. The adjusted Wald method was used to assess the primary aim. Logistic regression analyses was used to assess the secondary aim.ResultsThe most prevalent MHS among active footballers and former footballers was sport-related psychological distress (63%) and alcohol misuse (69%), respectively. Global psychological distress, sleep disturbance, alcohol misuse and substance misuse were significantly lower among active male footballers than among former players. Increased psychological resilience among active male footballers was associated with a decrease in symptoms of sport-related and global psychological distress, anxiety and depression of 9%, 14%, 23% and 20%, respectively. Increased psychological resilience among female players was associated with 10% decrease in symptoms of depression. Problem gambling and sleep disturbance was associated with injury in the previous 6 months among active male and female footballers, respectively.ConclusionsMHS are prevalent among active and former professional footballers. Higher level of psychological resilience is associated with decreased reporting of MHS. Severe injury is associated with problem gambling and sleep disturbance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn M Bell ◽  
Diane Holmberg

Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, people are facing heightened uncertainty about the future and increasing rates of psychological distress. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and perceived COVID-19 threat may be contributing to mental health problems. This study investigated changes in mental health problems prior to and during the first two pandemic waves in the U.S., and the extent to which IU and perceived COVID-19 threat predicted these problems. MTurk participants (n=192; 50% women) were recruited from a pre-pandemic study in December 2019/January 2020 for a follow-up study on COVID-19 experiences, across five timepoints between April and August 2020. IU, perceived COVID-19 threat, and mental health problems (i.e., worry, COVID-19 fear, and trauma symptoms) were assessed. On average, mental health problems were not elevated, relative to pre-pandemic levels, and remained stable across time. Heightened IU and perceived COVID-19 threat were associated with more mental health problems. Surprisingly, objective measures of COVID-19 threat (e.g., state case rates) showed no associations with IU, and were slightly negatively correlated with psychological distress and perceived threat. Pre-existing mental health symptoms, IU and perceived COVID-19 threat may foster vulnerability to mental health problems during the pandemic, more so than objective threat levels.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. e0224499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica L. Gollub ◽  
Jakevia Green ◽  
Lisa Richardson ◽  
Ilyssa Kaplan ◽  
Denese Shervington

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shira Maguen ◽  
David D. Luxton ◽  
Nancy A. Skopp ◽  
Gregory A. Gahm ◽  
Mark A. Reger ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark É Czeisler ◽  
Alexandra Drane ◽  
Sarah S Winnay ◽  
Emily R Capodilupo ◽  
Charles A Czeisler ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectivesTo estimate the prevalence of unpaid caregiving during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and to identify factors associated with adverse mental health symptoms, substance use, and suicidal ideation in this population, which provides critical support in health care systems by providing care to older adults and those with chronic conditions.MethodsIn June 2020, Internet-based surveys with questions about demographics, caregiving responsibilities, and mental health were administered to US adults aged ≥18 years. Demographic quota sampling and survey weighting to improve cross-sectional sample representativeness of age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Prevalence ratios for adverse mental health symptoms were estimated using multivariable Poisson regressions.ResultsOf 9,896 eligible invited adults, 5,412 (54.7%) completed surveys; 5,011 (92.6%) respondents met screening criteria and were analysed, including 1,362 (27.2%) caregivers. Caregivers had higher prevalences of adverse mental health symptoms than non-caregivers, including anxiety or depressive disorder symptoms (57.6% vs 21.5%, respectively, p<0.0001) having recently seriously considered suicide (33.4% vs 3.7%, p<0.0001). Symptoms were more common among caregivers who were young vs older adults (e.g., aged 18–24 vs ≥65 years, aPR 2.75, 95% CI 1.95–3.88, p<0.0001), Hispanic or Latino vs non-Hispanic White (1.14, 1.04–1.25, p=0.0044), living with vs without disabilities (1.18, 1.10–1.26, p<0.0001), and with moderate and high vs low Caregiver Intensity Index scores (2.31, 1.65–3.23; 2.81, 2.00–3.94; both p<0.0001). Suicidal ideation was more prevalent among non-Hispanic Black vs non-Hispanic White caregivers (1.48, 1.15–1.90, p=0.0022).ConclusionsCaregivers, who accounted for one in four US adult respondents in this nationally representative sample, more commonly reported adverse mental health symptoms than non-caregivers. Increased visibility of and access to mental health care resources are urgently needed to address mental health challenges of caregiving.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Finza Latif ◽  
Sawssan Ahmed ◽  
Sumera Farhan ◽  
Felice Watt ◽  
Muhammad Waqar Azeem

Background & Objective: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused widespread psychological distress. The aims of the study were a) to assess mental health symptoms experienced by expatriate hospital staff and b) to determine the impact of staff wellbeing interventions specific to pandemic related stress. Methods: The study was conducted from June 2020 until August 2020. A 16-question survey was disseminated online via Survey Monkey to assess the mental health needs of hospital staff during the pandemic. Based on results, a virtual, tiered mental health support model was developed, and staff feedback was collected. Results: Almost 46.2% of respondents (N: 1001) reported at least one mental health symptom in the initial survey. The most common symptoms were anxiety, low mood and feelings of isolation. Being single and in poor health status were predictors of developing mental health symptoms (P <0.01). Female gender was a predictor for experiencing fear of getting infected. Time constraints at work was the most common reason for not accessing mental health support. Conclusions: As in other parts of the world, hospital staff in Qatar experienced mental health symptoms and significant fear related to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Being single and in poor health status were risk factors. Mental health interventions at work must take into account time constraints experienced by staff. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.7.4533 How to cite this:Latif F, Ahmed SR, Farhan S, Watt F, Azeem MW. Predictors of Psychological Distress in Health Care Staff in Qatar during COVID-19 Pandemic. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(7):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.7.4533 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


10.2196/19347 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. e19347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas C Jacobson ◽  
Damien Lekkas ◽  
George Price ◽  
Michael V Heinz ◽  
Minkeun Song ◽  
...  

Background The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led to dramatic changes worldwide in people’s everyday lives. To combat the pandemic, many governments have implemented social distancing, quarantine, and stay-at-home orders. There is limited research on the impact of such extreme measures on mental health. Objective The goal of this study was to examine whether stay-at-home orders produced differential changes in mental health symptoms using internet search queries on a national scale. Methods In the United States, individual states vary in their adoption of measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19; as of March 23, 2020, 11 of the 50 states had issued stay-at-home orders. The staggered rollout of stay-at-home measures across the United States allows us to investigate whether these measures impact mental health by exploring variations in mental health search queries across the states. This paper examines the changes in mental health search queries on Google between March 16-23, 2020, across each state and Washington, DC. Specifically, this paper examines differential changes in mental health searches based on patterns of search activity following issuance of stay-at-home orders in these states compared to all other states. The participants were all the people who searched mental health terms in Google between March 16-23. Between March 16-23, 11 states underwent stay-at-home orders to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Outcomes included search terms measuring anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive, negative thoughts, irritability, fatigue, anhedonia, concentration, insomnia, and suicidal ideation. Results Analyzing over 10 million search queries using generalized additive mixed models, the results suggested that the implementation of stay-at-home orders are associated with a significant flattening of the curve for searches for suicidal ideation, anxiety, negative thoughts, and sleep disturbances, with the most prominent flattening associated with suicidal ideation and anxiety. Conclusions These results suggest that, despite decreased social contact, mental health search queries increased rapidly prior to the issuance of stay-at-home orders, and these changes dissipated following the announcement and enactment of these orders. Although more research is needed to examine sustained effects, these results suggest mental health symptoms were associated with an immediate leveling off following the issuance of stay-at-home orders.


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