Storm Clouds and Silver Linings: Impacts of COVID-19 and Daily Emotional Health in Adolescent Girls

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Susan Silk ◽  
Lori Scott ◽  
Emily Anne Hutchinson ◽  
Celine Lu ◽  
Stefanie Sequeira ◽  
...  

Objective: Changes to daily life resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have the potential to contribute to adolescent girls’ emotional health in both positive and negative ways, but the effects of these profound changes on adolescent daily functioning are unknown. Method: We conducted a 10-day daily diary study in a sample of 93 U.S. adolescent girls (aged 12-17) enriched for temperamental risk for anxiety and depression. The study was conducted in April/May 2020 when all participants were under state-issued stay-at-home orders. Girls provided daily reports of positive and negative affect, depressive and anxious symptoms, activities, and positive and negative impacts resulting from the pandemic. Results: Girls reported engaging in many activities that may contribute to well-being. Positive impacts associated with improved same-day emotional health included spending more time with family, more time to relax, and reduced pressure from school and activities. Negative impacts associated with poorer same-day emotional health included problems with online schooling, lack of space/privacy, lack of a regular schedule, and family conflict. Conclusion: Findings suggest that, when safe and feasible, families and communities should prioritize in-person or quality online schooling, resources and space for learning, promoting daily routines, and spending time with their teens while reducing conflict. The COVID-19 pandemic also appears to have offered many adolescent girls a respite from the chronic stress associated with modern teen life, with time to relax and engage in creative and healthy pursuits showing benefits for daily emotional health, which should be considered following the return to normal life.

Ethnicities ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146879682110182
Author(s):  
Alvaro Medel-Herrero ◽  
Monica Torreiro-Casal ◽  
Joseph D Hovey ◽  
Karla Rascon-Garcia ◽  
Suzette Smiley-Jewell ◽  
...  

Over 800,000 Mexican agricultural workers are employed in California each year, of which approximately 400,000 are estimated to be undocumented immigrants. Previous studies have found President Trump to be distinct in his anti-immigrant rhetoric and explicit verbal attacks of immigrants and refugees, which predicts hostile community attitudes towards immigrants and minorities. We convened 19 focus groups (FG) in diverse regions of California to gather information from Latina/o agriculture workers on the potential impact(s) of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and immigration policy on this population. Widespread racism and discrimination were overwhelmingly noted in all FG sessions. Participants reported being the targets of increasingly hostile behavior, including hate crimes, that they attributed to anti-immigration rhetoric. Therefore, participants also reported an increasing sense of fear and psychological distress that led them to avoid community participation. Perceptions of racist and intentionally harmful policies contributed to reduced interactions with healthcare facilities and prompted both documented and undocumented participants to withdraw themselves and their children from public programs. For FG participants, the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and immigration policy severely impacted their community resulting in profound negative impacts on their economic well-being, education, and physical and emotional health.


Author(s):  
Lauren Thomaier ◽  
Deanna Teoh ◽  
Patricia Jewett ◽  
Heather Beckwith ◽  
Helen Parsons ◽  
...  

AbstractIntroductionCancer care is significantly impacted by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of the pandemic on the emotional well-being of oncology providers across the United States and explore factors associated with anxiety and depression symptoms.Methods and MaterialsA cross-sectional survey was administered to United States cancer-care physicians recruited over a two-week period (3/27/2020 – 4/10/2020) using snowball-convenience sampling through social media. Symptoms of anxiety and depression were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4).ResultsOf 486 participants, 374 (77.0%) completed the PHQ-4: mean age 45.7±9.6 years; 63.2% female; all oncologic specialties were represented. The rates of anxiety and depression symptoms were 62.0% and 23.5%, respectively. Demographic factors associated with anxiety included female sex, younger age, and less time in clinical practice. Perception of inadequate PPE (68.6% vs. 57.4%, p=0.03) and practicing in a state with more COVID-19 cases (65.8% vs. 51.1%, p=0.01) were associated with anxiety symptoms. Factors significantly associated with both anxiety and depression included: degree to which COVID-19 has interfered with the ability to provide treatment to cancer patients and concern that patients will not receive the level of care needed for non-COVID-19 illness (all p-values <0.01).ConclusionThe prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms among oncology physicians in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic is high. Our findings highlight factors associated with and sources of psychological distress to be addressed to protect the well-being of oncology physicians.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. e580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Beekman ◽  
Aysha Keisler ◽  
Omar Pedraza ◽  
Masayuki Haramura ◽  
Athos Gianella-Borradori ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo gain insights into NMOSD disease impact, which may negatively affect QoL of patients, their families, and social network.MethodsThe current study used validated instruments to assess physical, emotional, and socioeconomic burden of NMOSD on QoL among 193 patients.ResultsA majority of patients reported an initial diagnosis of a disease other than NMOSD. Overall, two-thirds of patients reported NMOSD as having a strong negative impact on physical health (Short Form-36 [SF-36] score 27.1 ± 39.1), whereas emotional well-being was relatively unimpaired on average (SF-36 score 54.0 ± 44.9). A subset of patients reported having the highest category of emotional health despite worse physical health or financial burden, suggesting psychological resilience. Pain (r = 0.61) and bowel/bladder dysfunction (r = 0.41) imposed the greatest negative physical impact on overall QoL. In turn, ability to work correlated inversely with worsened health (r = −0.68). Increased pain, reduced sexual function, inability to work, and reduced QoL had greatest negative impacts on emotional well-being. Dissatisfaction with treatment options and economic burden correlated inversely with QoL.ConclusionsCollectively, the current findings advance the understanding of physical, emotional, social, and financial tolls imposed by NMOSD. These insights offer potential ways to enhance QoL by managing pain, enhancing family and social networks, and facilitating active employment.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0242767
Author(s):  
Lauren Thomaier ◽  
Deanna Teoh ◽  
Patricia Jewett ◽  
Heather Beckwith ◽  
Helen Parsons ◽  
...  

Introduction Cancer care is significantly impacted by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Our objective was to evaluate the early effects of the pandemic on the emotional well-being of oncology providers across the United States and explore factors associated with anxiety and depression symptoms. Materials and methods A cross-sectional survey was administered to United States cancer-care physicians recruited over a two-week period (3/27/2020–4/10/2020) using snowball-convenience sampling through social media. Symptoms of anxiety and depression were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4). Results Of 486 participants, 374 (77.0%) completed the PHQ-4: median age was 43 years; 63.2% female; all oncologic specialties were represented. The rates of anxiety and depression symptoms were 62.0% and 23.5%, respectively. Demographic factors associated with anxiety included female sex, younger age, and less time in clinical practice. Perception of inadequate personal protective equipment (68.6% vs. 57.4%, p = 0.03) and practicing in a state with more COVID-19 cases (65.8% vs. 51.1%, p = 0.01) were associated with anxiety symptoms. Factors significantly associated with both anxiety and depression included the degree to which COVID-19 has interfered with the ability to provide treatment to cancer patients and concern that patients will not receive the level of care needed for non-COVID-19 illness (all p-values <0.01). Conclusion The perceived degree of interference with clinical practice along with personal concerns about COVID-19 were significantly associated with both anxiety and depression among oncology physicians in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings highlight factors associated with and sources of psychological distress to be addressed to protect the well-being of oncology physicians.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-56
Author(s):  
Ray Marks

Background Aging, a state often associated with poor emotional health status greatly impedes life quality and independence for many. Aim This mini review examines the potential of the concept of positive psychology as an active approach to fostering successful or more successful, rather than suboptimal aging. Methods and Procedures Articles that addressed the current topic of interest and were located in the PUBMED, Medline, Web of Science, PsycINFO and Google Scholar electronic data bases were carefully sought and analyzed and presented in narrative form. Results Various forms of positive psychology appear to provide a safe efficacious evidence based approach for purposes of ameliorating various degrees of anxiety and depression and for improving cognition, life quality, and health well-being in diverse subgroups of older adults Conclusion More research to examine who might benefit most from this highly promising form of intervention, and in what respect appears to have considerable merit in light of the growing populations of older adults and few intervention options to help them to age optimally and as successfully as possible.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (10) ◽  
pp. 109-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Oates ◽  
Georgia Dacakis

Because of the increasing number of transgender people requesting speech-language pathology services, because having gender-incongruent voice and communication has major negative impacts on an individual's social participation and well-being, and because voice and communication training is supported by an improving evidence-base, it is becoming more common for universities to include transgender-specific theoretical and clinical components in their speech-language pathology programs. This paper describes the theoretical and clinical education provided to speech-language pathology students at La Trobe University in Australia, with a particular focus on the voice and communication training program offered by the La Trobe Communication Clinic. Further research is required to determine the outcomes of the clinic's training program in terms of student confidence and competence as well as the effectiveness of training for transgender clients.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi-Chao Zhang ◽  
Oi Ling Siu ◽  
Jing Hu ◽  
Weiwei Zhang

This study investigated the direct, reversed, and reciprocal relationships between bidirectional work-family conflict/work-family facilitation and psychological well-being (PWB). We administered a three-wave questionnaire survey to 260 married Chinese employees using a time lag of one month. Cross-lagged structural equation modeling analysis was conducted and demonstrated that the direct model was better than the reversed causal or the reciprocal model. Specifically, work-to-family conflict at Time 1 negatively predicted PWB at Time 2, and work-to-family conflict at Time 2 negatively predicted PWB at Time 3; further, work-to-family facilitation at Time 1 positively predicted PWB at Time 2. In addition, family-to-work facilitation at Time 1 positively predicted PWB at Time 2, and family-to-work conflict at Time 2 negatively predicted PWB at Time 3.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-37
Author(s):  
Merja Paksuniemi

This article seeks to demonstrate how Finnish refugee children experienced living in Swedish refugee camps during the Second World War (1939–1945). The study focuses on children’s opinions and experiences reflected through adulthood. The data were collected through retrospective interviews with six adults who experienced wartime as children in Finland and were evacuated to Sweden as refugees. Five of the interviewees were female and one of them was male. The study shows, it was of decisive importance to the refugee children’s well-being to have reliable adults around them during the evacuation and at the camps. The findings demonstrate that careful planning made a significant difference to the children´s adaptations to refugee camp life. The daily routines at the camp, such as regular meals, play time and camp school, reflected life at home and helped the children to continue their lives, even under challenging circumstances.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer S Mascaro ◽  
Sean Kelley ◽  
Alana Darcher ◽  
Lobsang Negi ◽  
Carol Worthman ◽  
...  

Increasing data suggest that for medical school students the stress of academic and psychologicaldemands can impair social emotions that are a core aspect of compassion and ultimately physiciancompetence. Few interventions have proven successful for enhancing physician compassion inways that persist in the face of suffering and that enable sustained caretaker well-being. To addressthis issue, the current study was designed to (1) investigate the feasibility of cognitively-basedcompassion training (CBCT) for second-year medical students, and (2) test whether CBCT decreasesdepression, enhances compassion, and improves daily functioning in medical students. Comparedto the wait-list group, students randomized to CBCT reported increased compassion, and decreasedloneliness and depression. Changes in compassion were most robust in individuals reporting highlevels of depression at baseline, suggesting that CBCT may benefit those most in need by breakingthe link between personal suffering and a concomitant drop in compassion


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