Mental Well-Being and Its Associated Factors Among Myanmar Migrant Workers in Penang, Malaysia

International migration has become a global phenomenon bringing with it complex and interrelated issues related to the physical and mental well-being of the people involved. This study investigated the mental well-being and factors associated with mental health among Myanmar migrant workers (MMW) in Malaysia. The cross-sectional study was conducted in Penang, Malaysia by using the WHO-5 Well-Being Index Scale (WHO-5) and the Mental Health subscale of 36 items in the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Among 192 migrant workers who were understudied, 79.2% had poor mental well-being according to the WHO-5 scale. The duration of stay in Malaysia and without receiving financial aid from their employers despite having a physical illness were significantly associated with poor mental well-being. Mental health support groups should target migrant workers for mental health education and find ways to provide assistance for them. Furthermore, premigration training should be delivered at the country of origin that also provides information on the availability of mental health support in the host country.

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Predictors of Seeking Health Information and Mental Health Support in U.S. Prisons: A Study Using 2014 PIAAC Data

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1082 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 337-337

Author(s):

Candidus Nwakasi ◽

Darlingtina Esiaka ◽

Janardan Subedi

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

General Population ◽

Health Information ◽

Support Groups ◽

Social Trust ◽

Well Being ◽

Mental Illnesses ◽

Literacy Skill ◽

Mental Health Support ◽

Health Support

Abstract Being in prison increases the vulnerability to poor health, especially mental illnesses. This is evident in the documented health disparities between prison inmates and the general population. For example, suicide rates among inmates are higher than in the general population. There is an urgent need to understand how inmates experience mental well-being. This is important as some inmates serve long/life sentences and some will need to successfully re-integrate into the society. Although they have a constitutional right to health care access through the Eight Amendment, little is known of the health information and mental health support seeking patterns among inmates. The current study examined factors associated with the amount of health information accessed, and participation in mental health support groups in US prisons. Data (N= 645) from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (2014) were analyzed using linear and logistic regressions. Sample weights were applied in the analyses. Results show statistically significant relationships between amount of health information acquired and age (66 years and above), race, health-status, readiness to learn, literacy skill, and numeracy skill. Social trust moderated the effect of education on the odds of participating in mental health support groups. Also, gender, work duration, attending substance abuse support and life skills groups were significant predictors. Our study may provide insight for stakeholders (e.g., policymakers, clinicians, social workers, and wardens, etc.) working in partnership to deliver a more tailored health interventions for inmates, by highlighting key contextual issues predicting mental health and well-being within prison settings.

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The Influence of Technology on Mental Well-Being of STEM Teachers at University Level: COVID-19 as a Stressor

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18189605 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (18) ◽

pp. 9605

Author(s):

Johanna Andrea Navarro-Espinosa ◽

Manuel Vaquero-Abellán ◽

Alberto-Jesús Perea-Moreno ◽

Gerardo Pedrós-Pérez ◽

Pilar Aparicio-Martínez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Online Education ◽

Bibliometric Analysis ◽

Well Being ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Health Issues ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

University Teachers ◽

Use Of Technology ◽

Mental Well Being

Stress can result in psychopathologies, such as anxiety or depression, when this risk factor continues in time. One major stressor was the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered considerable emotional distress and mental health issues among different workers, including teachers, with another stressor: technology and online education. A mixed-method approach is presented in this research, combining a cross-sectional study of university teachers from Ecuador and Spain with a medium of twenty years of working experience (N = 55) and a bibliometric analysis carried out in three databases (161 documents). The levels of anxiety and depression, and therefore the risk of developing them as mental disorders, were high. The lack of training (p < 0.01), time (p < 0.05), or research regarding the use of technology in education (p < 0.01) and stress caused by COVID-19 (p < 0.001) were linked to frequency. The most relevant observational study obtained through the bibliometric analysis (138 citations and over 65% of methodological quality) indicated that previous training and behavioral factors are key in the stress related to technology. The combination of the results indicated that mental health in STEM teachers at university is related to diverse factors, from training to the family and working balance.

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The mental health and well-being benefits of exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study of medical students and newly qualified doctors in the UK

Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -) ◽

10.1007/s11845-020-02423-z ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Conor Coyle ◽

Hanya Ghazi ◽

Ioannis Georgiou

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Physical Activity ◽

Medical Students ◽

Well Being ◽

Health Impact ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Mood Score ◽

The Uk ◽

Mental Well Being

Abstract Background University students have been uniquely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is currently little data upon the measures that medical students and newly qualified doctors have taken to help their mental well-being and mood during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aim We aimed to identify the activities respondents found beneficial for their well-being and mental health and recorded a mood score from survey respondents. Methods A nationwide study was completed to investigate the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon medical students and newly qualified doctors (interim foundation year one). We received 2075 respondents from across the UK. Results Physical activity was found to be the most common activity used by the survey respondents to help with their mental well-being (80.1%) (medical students, 83.7%; interim foundation doctors, 72.3%). Participants who stated that exercise helped their well-being had a mean score (SD) of 52.3 (20.7) which was significantly higher (P = 0.048) than those who reported that they did not exercise (49.8 (21.1)). Respondents who stated they had used exercise to help with their mental well-being had (on average) a higher mood score than those who did not. This was seen in both the medical student and interim foundation doctor subgroups. Discussion Exercise can help to benefit the well-being of medical students and interim foundation doctors. It is hoped that higher education providers and employers recognise the importance of promoting physical activity for the well-being of their students and staff, respectively.

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Relationships Between Youth Sports Participation and Mental Health in Young Adulthood Among Finnish Males

American Journal of Health Promotion ◽

10.1177/0890117117746336 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 32 (7) ◽

pp. 1502-1509 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Kaija Appelqvist-Schmidlechner ◽

Jani Vaara ◽

Arja Häkkinen ◽

Tommi Vasankari ◽

Juha Mäkinen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Behavior ◽

Young Adulthood ◽

Mental Distress ◽

Short Form ◽

Sports Participation ◽

Well Being ◽

Short Version ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Mental Well Being

Purpose: To examine whether retrospectively assessed sports participation (SP) and competitive sports (CS) at the age of 12 years is associated with mental health and health behavior in young adulthood among males. Design: A cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaires. Setting: Conducted prior to compulsory military refresher training course in Finland allowing geographically representative sample of Finnish young men. Participants: Six hundred eighty males aged between 20 and 35 years. Measures: Mental well-being was measured with the short version of Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale and mental distress with 5 items of The Short Form Helalth Survey (SF-36) scale. Analysis: Binary logistic regression models. Results: Sports participation at the age of 12 was associated with better mental health in young adulthood, with both mental well-being (odds ratio [OR] = 1.86, 95% confidence interval 1.11-3.11) and mental distress (OR = 0.61, 0.41-0.90). Age, years of education, and current physical activity were controlled. Higher level of intensity of SP and the level of CS in childhood were associated with lower level of mental distress in adulthood. No association was found between the level of CS in childhood and mental well-being in adulthood. Further, youth SP seemed to be a risk factor for increased alcohol consumption and use of snuff in adulthood. Conclusions: Despite negative outcomes related to health behavior, the findings provide support for the association between youth SP and positive mental health outcomes in adulthood among males.

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The relationship between mental health self-efficacy and mental well-being in England, UK: A Cross-sectional study

10.21203/rs.3.rs-30125/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Frederike Katharina Lemmel ◽

Rebecca Jones ◽

Sonia Johnson ◽

Anita Jolly ◽

Miriam Miller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Well Being ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Psychological Well Being ◽

Mental Well Being ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Background. Mental well-being is an essential concept in research and public health as it is recognised as an indicator of population mental health and quality of life. Previous studies have provided evidence that general self-efficacy is positively related to mental well-being. The aim of this study is to examine whether higher help-seeking self-efficacy and higher psychological well-being self-efficacy respectively, are associated with increased mental well-being.Methods. In this cross-sectional study 1795 adults from the general English population were recruited from a market research panel to fill out an online questionnaire between 24th September 2018 and 05th October 2018. Two simple linear regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship between each of help-seeking self-efficacy and psychological well-being self- efficacy as exposure variables and mental well-being as the outcome. Multiple imputation by chained equations was used to handle missing data.Results. No evidence was found for an association between either help-seeking self-efficacy or psychological well-being self-efficacy and mental well-being.Conclusions. These findings do not provide evidence that improving help-seeking or psychological well-being self-efficacy could lead to improving well-being. Methodological limitations, such as unmeasured confounders might be responsible for the lack of evidence in this study. Having a mental health condition is a potential negative confounder that might not have been measured adequately.

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Types of social support associated with depression in the UK adult population

Environment and Social Psychology ◽

10.18063/esp.v0.i0.831 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

SOO YIN TAN 1 ◽

SOO Shi Hui Joy 1 ◽

Keming YANG 3

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Social Support ◽

Social Relations ◽

Adult Population ◽

Well Being ◽

Mental Health Support ◽

Health Support ◽

The Uk ◽

Sociological Studies ◽

Mental Well Being

Many well-established sociological studies pertaining to the salubrious link between social relations and mental health have been published. In particular, numerous researchers address the issue of how social isolation and lack of family support and social ties can adversely affect one’s mental well-being. In this paper, we seek to identify and explore the relationships between people who were clinically diagnosed with depression and the aspects of their social environment, namely their social and family circumstances in the UK adult population. One hundred and ten blogs mentioning depression as their main condition were selected from a mental health support website, Time-to-Change, for analysis. As not many studies have analysed such narratives, we expected the analysis to provide a fresher and deeper understanding of the experiences of those afflicted with depression. We observed that there is a consistent discourse emphasising the importance of social support from close loved ones, in particular friends and family members. There is evidence that social circumstances can be mediating factors in depression.

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Workplace factors associated with mental health of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: an international cross-sectional study

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/s12913-021-06279-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ankur Khajuria ◽

Wojtek Tomaszewski ◽

Zhongchun Liu ◽

Jian-hua Chen ◽

Roshana Mehdian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

International Study ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Mental Health Support ◽

Health Support ◽

Workplace Factors

Abstract Background The association of workplace factors on mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic needs to be urgently established. This will enable governments and policy-makers to make evidence-based decisions. This international study reports the association between workplace factors and the mental health of HCWs during the pandemic. Methods An international, cross-sectional study was conducted in 41 countries. The primary outcome was depressive symptoms, derived from the validated Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2). Multivariable logistic regression identified factors associated with mental health outcomes. Inter-country differences were also evaluated. Results A total of 2527 responses were received, from 41 countries, including China (n = 1213; 48.0%), UK (n = 891; 35.3%), and USA (n = 252; 10.0%). Of all participants, 1343 (57.1%) were aged 26 to 40 years, and 2021 (80.0%) were female; 874 (34.6%) were doctors, and 1367 (54.1%) were nurses. Factors associated with an increased likelihood of depressive symptoms were: working in the UK (OR = 3.63; CI = [2.90–4.54]; p < 0.001) and USA (OR = 4.10; CI = [3.03–5.54]), p < 0.001); being female (OR = 1.74; CI = [1.42–2.13]; p < 0.001); being a nurse (OR = 1.64; CI = [1.34–2.01]; p < 0.001); and caring for a COVID-19 positive patient who subsequently died (OR = 1.20; CI = [1.01–1.43]; p = 0.040). Workplace factors associated with depressive symptoms were: redeployment to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) (OR = 1.67; CI = [1.14–2.46]; p = 0.009); redeployment with perceived unsatisfactory training (OR = 1.67; CI = [1.32–2.11]; p < 0.001); not being issued with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) (OR = 2.49; CI = [2.03–3.04]; p < 0.001); perceived poor workplace support within area/specialty (OR = 2.49; CI = [2.03–3.04]; p < 0.001); and perceived poor mental health support (OR = 1.63; CI = [1.38–1.92]; p < 0.001). Conclusion This is the first international study, demonstrating that workplace factors, including PPE availability, staff training pre-redeployment, and provision of mental health support, are significantly associated with mental health during COVID-19. Governments, policy-makers and other stakeholders need to ensure provision of these to safeguard HCWs’ mental health, for future waves and other pandemics.

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Types of social support associated with depression in the UK adult population

Environment and Social Psychology ◽

10.18063/esp.v0.i0.810 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Joy Soo 1 ◽

TAN Soo Yin 1* ◽

YANG Keming 2

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Social Support ◽

Social Relations ◽

Adult Population ◽

Well Being ◽

Mental Health Support ◽

Health Support ◽

The Uk ◽

Sociological Studies ◽

Mental Well Being

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Telepsychiatry to Provide Mental Health Support to Healthcare Professionals during the COVID-19 Crisis: A Cross-Sectional Survey among 321 Healthcare Professionals in France

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph181910146 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (19) ◽

pp. 10146

Author(s):

Clément Cormi ◽

Stéphane Sanchez ◽

Valentine de l’Estoile ◽

Laura Ollivier ◽

Aude Letty ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Health Management ◽

Communicable Disease ◽

Drug Prescription ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Mental Health Support ◽

Health Support

Pandemics are difficult times for the mental health of healthcare professionals, who are more likely to present with PTSD-like symptoms. In the context of a highly contagious communicable disease, telemedicine is a useful alternative to usual care, and should be considered as a means to support healthcare professionals’ mental health. This is a multicenter (n = 19), cross-sectional study, based on a 27-item questionnaire, aiming to investigate the acceptability to healthcare workers of a telepsychiatry service as a means of providing mental health support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between October and December 2020, 321 responses were received, showing that women, caregiving staff, and those directly involved in the care of COVID-19 patients are less favorable to the idea of receiving remote support. In our population, barriers were related to the clinical setting or ethics, and most of the respondents would not accept a drug prescription by telepsychiatry. Although telepsychiatry should be a part of the armamentarium of mental health management, it is not suitable as a stand-alone approach, and should be combined with conventional face-to-face consultations.

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Discrimination and Health: The Mediating Effect of Acculturative Stress

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18105312 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (10) ◽

pp. 5312

Author(s):

Alfonso Urzúa ◽

Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar ◽

Diego Henríquez ◽

David R. Williams

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Racial Discrimination ◽

Acculturative Stress ◽

Short Form ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Ethnic Discrimination ◽

Mediating Effect ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Cross Sectional

There is not much evidence on the effects of south–south migration and its consequences on physical and mental health. Our objective was to examine the mediating role of Acculturative Stress in the association between ethnic discrimination and racial discrimination with physical and mental health. This research is a non-experimental, analytical, cross-sectional study. A total of 976 adult Colombian migrants living in Chile were interviewed. We used the Everyday Discrimination Scale, the acculturative stress scale, and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-12) for health status; we found that racial and ethnic discrimination had a negative effect on physical and mental health. In the simultaneous presence of both types of discrimination, racial discrimination was completely absorbed by ethnic discrimination, the latter becoming a total mediator of the effect of racial discrimination on mental and physical health. Our findings are consistent with the literature, which suggests that there are various types of discrimination which, individually or in their intersectionality, can have negative effects on health.

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