Association of coping strategies with mental health trajectories during the first twenty-one weeks of COVID-19 lockdown

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Fluharty ◽  
Feifei Bu ◽  
Andrew Steptoe ◽  
Daisy Fancourt

The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health is well evidenced. However, there is little research on how individuals’ coping strategies during the pandemic were related to changes in mental health over time. The current study used data from the COVID-19 Social Study (N=26,505) to explore whether particular coping strategies (problem-focused, emotion-focused, avoidant, and supportive) were associated with (i) better mental health as lockdown was introduced, and (ii) faster recovery from symptoms across 21 weeks. People with greater use of problem-focused, avoidant, and supportive coping displayed more mental health symptoms, while greater use of emotion-focused coping was associated with fewer mental health symptoms. Symptoms decreased over time for all coping strategies, but only supportive coping was associated with a faster decrease in anxiety and depressive symptoms, indicating a potential protective effect of social support on psychological distress.

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (S1) ◽  
pp. 73-74
Author(s):  
Rheanna Platt ◽  
Elisabet Arribas-Ibar

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: (1) To assess the prevalence of mental health symptomatology (depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, PTSD symptoms, and problematic alcohol use) and psychosocial risk factors for mental health disorders (low social support, immigration stress, acculturation, and marital/partner discord), and their association with immigration status, health care access and contextual risk factors in Spanish-speaking parents of young children (ages 0–5) who attended a well-child visit. (2) To explore acceptability of screening for and discussing parental distress in the pediatric primary care setting, and parental acceptability of a group well-visit format to address both psychosocial risk factors and mental health symptoms in this population. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Latino immigrant parents (n=100) of children ages 0–5 attending well-child visits at Johns Hopkins Bayview Children’s Medical Practice were surveyed between October 2015 and February 2016. The verbally administered survey included the Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST), AUDIT-C, Primary Care Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PC-PTSD) Screener, California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), Appraisal Support Subscale from Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL), Personal Health Questionnaire Depression Scale (PHQ-8), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-2). These questionnaires have been used in large regional or national surveys and most have been validated with US Latino populations. Positive screens were defined as PHQ-8>5 (mild depression or greater), GAD-2>3, AUDIT-C>3 for women and >4 for men, and PC-PTSD>3. Descriptive information and comparisons were obtained by χ2 and Student t-test. Study protocol will allow review of childrens’ pediatric records (n=100). From this sample, parents were separately recruited to participate in in-depth interviews (n=11 of 20 planned have been completed) further exploring both sources of parental distress, acceptability of screening for parental mental health symptoms in the primary care pediatric setting, and acceptability of a potential group-based well-visit model in the pediatric setting. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Survey participants were 93.0% women, and predominantly<35 years of age. The vast majority (94.0%) were undocumented, recently arrived (<15 years ago) and reported poor or very poor English proficiency (75.0%). Most (84.7%) reported living with a partner or spouse (84.7%), and 58% reported partner relationship strain. In all, 71% reported poor social support. The prevalence of “screen positive” mental health symptoms was highest for depression (55%) and PTSD (35%), followed by anxiety (29%) and alcohol risk use (25%). Having depression was significantly higher (68.4%) (p<0.02) in participants with less education (<6 grade). Partner relationship strain was associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms (59.3%) (p<0.03). Immigration stress (feeling guilty for leaving family and friends) was also significantly associated with depressive symptoms (58.1%) and PTSD (43.5%) (p<0.03). More than half of the participants (60.0%) with depression were not covered by any health insurance and 56.3% of those with depression reported not having been seen by a health care provider in the past 12 months. A high prevalence of symptoms was found in those with poor appraised social support: alcohol risk use (76.0%), depression (69.1%), anxiety (69.0%), and PTSD (68.6%). Among participants, those aged<30 years old and those with more children reported poorer appraised social support. Data from child medical records (including BMI, presence of feeding problems, referrals for social work, or mental health services) has been extracted but not yet linked to parent survey or interview results. Preliminary review of In Depth Interviews suggests that the most common reported source of stress among participants was related to finances, followed by documentation/legal status difficulties, access to childcare, and limited English proficiency. Some mothers also mentioned interpersonal violence and lack of access to healthcare as stressors. All mothers expressed an interest in a pediatric primary care based parent focused the majority of which indicated that a group based intervention would be acceptable, some mothers indicated they preferred a one-to-one intervention if mental health were to be discussed. Mothers seem preferential to social worker-led interventions compared with pediatrician-led, but most mothers were indifferent. Finally, mothers expressed low support from the Latino community in Baltimore. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Results from this study suggest that this population of parents is experiencing a relatively high rate of mental health symptoms, low perceived social support, and limited access to their own source of care. This suggests that an intervention delivered within a primary care pediatric setting would have the potential to reach parents who might not otherwise interact with their own providers, and that there are an array of problems that could be targeted. Intervening with parents of young children has the potential to affect multiple child outcomes. A group intervention may target poor social support, though this format is not universally preferred. Next steps for this project include assessing the acceptability of and preference for various content components (ie, depression, parenting stress, legal issues) and linking parent data with child data (including developmental screening results, weight, feeding problems, and behavior problems).


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria Pozzato ◽  
Ashley Craig ◽  
Bamini Gopinath ◽  
Annette Kifley ◽  
Yvonne Tran ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Mental health symptoms, like depressive mood (DM) and post-traumatic stress (PTS), and pain interference (PI) with daily functioning often co-occur following traffic injury and their comorbidity can complicate recovery. This study aimed to map the course and overlapping trajectories of mental health symptoms, and associations with PI in a traffic injury population. Methods: In total, 2019 adults sustaining minor-to-moderate traffic injury were recruited within 28 days post-injury and assessed using phone interviews at 1, 6 and 12-months post-injury. Trajectories of DM, PTS and PI were established and relationships between DM, PTS and PI trajectories were explored using dual trajectory modelling. Bio-psychosocial predictors (e.g. pre-injury health, catastrophizing, acute distress, quality of life, social support) of mental health trajectories were investigated.Results: Up to five typical post-trauma trajectories were identified for DM, PTS and PI. Most people were in a resilient mental health trajectory (over 60%, DM or PTS), or in a chronic PI trajectory (almost 60%) 12 months post-injury. While recovery/resilient mental health trajectories were strongly interrelated (73.4% joint probability and >94% conditional probabilities), DM/PTS comorbidity in chronic trajectories was not straightforward, suggesting a possibly asymmetric relationship. That is, persistent DM was more likely associated with persistent PTS (90.4%), than vice versa (31.9%), with a 22.5% probability that persistent PTS was associated with none or milder depression (i.e. following a recovery/resilient DM trajectory). An asymmetrical relationship was also found between mental health and PI. The majority of those with persistent PI were likely to be in a recovery/resilient DM/PTS trajectory (almost 70%), but those in a non-resilient DM/PTS trajectory showed a high risk of persistent PI. Predictors of non-resilient mental health trajectories included poorer pre-injury health and social support, and shared factors like acute psychological distress and pain catastrophizing. Conclusions: Strong interrelations were confirmed between mental health symptoms and PI following traffic injury. However, persistent DM was more strongly linked to persistent PTS, than vice versa. Persistent PI was only linked with persistent DM/PTS in vulnerable subgroups. Early psychiatric/psychological interventions should target elevated psychological distress and negative appraisals in vulnerable individuals, to reduce long-term mental health morbidity/comorbidity and PI. Trial registration: ACTRN12613000889752.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria Pozzato ◽  
Ashley Craig ◽  
Bamini Gopinath ◽  
Annette Kifley ◽  
Yvonne Tran ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Mental health symptoms, like depressive mood (DM) and post-traumatic stress (PTS), and pain interference (PI) with daily functioning often co-occur following traffic injury and their comorbidity can complicate recovery. This study aimed to map the course and overlapping trajectories of mental health symptoms, and associations with PI in a traffic injury population. Methods: In total, 2019 adults sustaining minor-to-moderate traffic injury were recruited within 28 days post-injury and assessed using phone interviews at 1, 6 and 12-months post-injury. Trajectories of DM, PTS and PI were established and relationships between DM, PTS and PI trajectories were explored using dual trajectory modelling. Bio-psychosocial predictors (e.g. pre-injury health, catastrophizing, acute distress, quality of life, social support) of mental health trajectories were investigated.Results: Up to five typical post-trauma trajectories were identified for DM, PTS and PI. Most people were in a resilient mental health trajectory (over 60%, DM or PTS), or in a chronic PI trajectory (almost 60%) 12 months post-injury. While recovery/resilient mental health trajectories were strongly interrelated (73.4% joint probability and >94% conditional probabilities), DM/PTS comorbidity in chronic trajectories was not straightforward, suggesting a possibly asymmetric relationship. That is, persistent DM was more likely associated with persistent PTS (90.4%), than vice versa (31.9%), with a 22.5% probability that persistent PTS was associated with none or milder depression (i.e. following a recovery/resilient DM trajectory). An asymmetrical relationship was also found between mental health and PI. The majority of those with persistent PI were likely to be in a recovery/resilient DM/PTS trajectory (almost 70%), but those in a non-resilient DM/PTS trajectory showed a high risk of persistent PI. Predictors of non-resilient mental health trajectories included poorer pre-injury health and social support, and shared factors like acute psychological distress and pain catastrophizing. Conclusions: Strong interrelations were confirmed between mental health symptoms and PI following traffic injury. However, persistent DM was more strongly linked to persistent PTS, than vice versa. Persistent PI was only linked with persistent DM/PTS in vulnerable subgroups. Early psychiatric/psychological interventions should target elevated psychological distress and negative appraisals in vulnerable individuals, to reduce long-term mental health morbidity/comorbidity and PI. Trial registration: ACTRN12613000889752.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad N. AlHadi ◽  
Mohammed A. Alarabi ◽  
Khulood M. AlMansoor

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on people’s lives globally. The outbreak in Saudi Arabia worsened when the number of cases and deaths rose in March and April of 2020, leading to a national lockdown. This study aimed to assess the factors associated with mental health symptoms in a sample of people residing in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We conducted an observational cross-sectional study using an online survey distributed via social media, completed by 3032 respondents from all Saudi regions. We collected demographic data, illness history, and scores of validated self-report scales to assess mental health symptoms, intolerance of uncertainty, and coping strategies. Results In total, respondents indicated moderate to very severe symptoms during the pandemic as follows: 20.9% for depression, 17.5% for anxiety, and 12.6% for stress. Younger age, female gender, and history of mental illness were associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia. Intolerance of uncertainty and certain coping strategies (such as denial or self-blame) were associated with more severe symptoms. Conclusions Mental health is a key concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for the identified vulnerable groups. Agencies concerned with mental health during crises may use the studied associated factors of mental health symptoms to generate targeted policies or interventions.


Blood ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 41-42
Author(s):  
Nancy S. Green ◽  
Deepa Manwani ◽  
Kim Smith-Whitley ◽  
Banu Aygun ◽  
Abena Appiah-Kubi ◽  
...  

Introduction: Youth with sickle cell disease (SCD) and their families are susceptible to stress and depression associated with chronic illness and social factors disproportionately affecting under-resourced U.S. communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted psychosocial and economic well-being, especially in some of these same communities. Our concurrent HABIT multi-site randomized trial aims to improve hydroxyurea adherence in youth with SCD ages 10-18 years through an intervention led by community health workers(NCT03462511). Subjects enrolled as youth-primary caretaker dyads; adults were mostly parents. We hypothesized that some HABIT subjects had depressive symptoms at baseline, and many had additional stressors during the pandemic. Methods: Two self-reported assessment tools were used, with options of English or Spanish: 1) PROMIS® pediatric (8a, v1.0) or adult (4a, v1.0) depression measures, completed at HABIT enrollment, nearly all between May 2018 - March 2020 ("baseline"); 2) A pandemic-related open-access survey originated by Johns Hopkins University on established core adult mental health assessed risks and behaviors.[1] Questions were closely adapted for use by youth. The pandemic survey assessed recent mental health symptoms and substance or domestic abuse. Two validated food insecurity screening questions were added.[2] Of 92 HABIT subjects, 84 were offered survey participation between May - July, 2020. Participants completed both assessment tools via electronic linkage to REDCap data capture. Analyses used chi square or Fisher exact test. Results: In all, 75% (63 of 84) responded to the pandemic survey; 31 were youth-parent dyads and one unpaired parent. Baseline demographics were: Youth (N=31): mean age 12.9±1.9 years, 48.4% female, 80.6% grade 6-12, 45.3% hospitalized within the prior 12 months; Caretakers (N=32): mean age 44.0±9.6 years, 87.5% Black, 18.8% Latinx, 37.50% married or living with a partner, 59.4% with at least some college education. At baseline, youth mean PROMIS® Depression T-Score was 49.9±10.1 (normal &lt;50), with 64.5% reporting mild, moderate or severe depressive symptoms, compared to Caretaker' mean score 46.6±9.4 (normal &lt;55) with 15.5% symptomatic (p=0.0002) (Table). In contrast, the pandemic survey revealed that 3 (9.7%) youth and 8 (25.0%) caretakers had recently felt depressed and/or anxious (NS). Loneliness (1 in 5) and especially not feeling hope for the future (1 in 2) were common in both groups. More youth than caretakers (89.1% vs.46.9%) had changes made to their school or work arrangements (p=0.008). Four (12.5%) caretakers and 1 (3.2%) youth had histories of mental illness. Substance use/abuse or verbal abuse were reported in &lt;10% of each group. Food insecurity was reported in 6 (18.8%) families. "Red flag" replies to the pandemic survey necessitated referral of 6 dyads (18.8%) to their SCD social workers for support. Conclusions: In this sample of subjects from the HABIT Trial, at baseline a higher proportion of youth had depressive symptoms compare to their primary caretakers. During the initial pandemic peak in the Northeast, disrupted work arrangements and especially school cancellation were widespread. Fewer youth but similar proportions of caretakers reported feeling depressed and/or anxious. Both groups commonly reported loneliness or not feeling hopeful for the future. History of mental health conditions, current substance use/abuse or verbal abuse were uncommon. Concordant with concerns for under-resourced communities, a sizeable minority of families reported food insecurity. Under the limitations of using 2 different assessment tools, in this modest sample the majority of youth with SCD but not caretakers were mildly-moderately depressed at baseline and that, during the pandemic, the 2 groups reported similar proportions of mental health symptoms. These findings suggest that screening for mental health symptoms, social disruption and food insecurity may be warranted in this high-risk group overall and during the pandemic. References: 1) COVID-19 and mental health measurement working group, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, March 18, 2020 2) Barnidge E., et al., Screening for Food Insecurity in Pediatric Clinical Settings. J. Community Health 42(1):51-57, 2017 The HABIT Trial is supported by 5R01NR017206-04 (Green, Smaldone). The authors have no conflicts to disclose. Disclosures Smith-Whitley: Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Global Blood Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Prime: Other: Education material; Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Aygun:bluebird bio: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; National Institute of Nursing Research: Research Funding; Patient-Centered Outsomes Research Institute: Research Funding; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: Research Funding.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000486742110653
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M Westrupp ◽  
Christopher J Greenwood ◽  
Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz ◽  
Craig A Olsson ◽  
Emma Sciberras ◽  
...  

Objective: To control a second-wave COVID-19 outbreak, the state of Victoria in Australia experienced one of the world’s first long and strict lockdowns over July–October 2020, while the rest of Australia experienced ‘COVID-normal’ with minimal restrictions. We (1) investigate trajectories of parent/child mental health outcomes in Victoria vs non-Victoria and (2) identify baseline demographic, individual and COVID-19-related factors associated with mental health trajectories. Methods: Online community sample of 2004 Australian parents with rapid repeated assessment over 14 time-points over April 2020 to May 2021. Measures assessed parent mental health (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21), child depression symptoms (13-item Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire) and child anxiety symptoms (four items from Brief Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale). Results: Mental health trajectories shadowed COVID-19 infection rates. Victorians reported a peak in mental health symptoms at the time of the second-wave lockdown compared to other states. Key baseline predictors, including parent and child loneliness (standardized regression coefficient [β] = 0.09–0.46), parent/child diagnoses (β = 0.07–0.21), couple conflict (β = 0.07–0.18) and COVID-19 stressors, such as worry/concern about COVID-19, illness and loss of job (β = 0.12–0.15), predicted elevated trajectories. Effects of predictors on parent and child mental health trajectories are illustrated in an online interactive app for readers ( https://lingtax.shinyapps.io/CPAS_trend/ ). Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence of worse trajectories of parent and child mental health symptoms at a time coinciding with a second COVID-19 outbreak involving strict lockdown in Victoria, compared to non-locked states in Australia. We identified several baseline factors that may be useful in detecting high-risk families who are likely to require additional support early on in future lockdowns.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haley Sherman ◽  
Nicky Frye-Cox ◽  
Mallory Lucier-Greer

ABSTRACT Introduction Researchers and practitioners are invested in understanding how deployment experiences impact the nearly 193,000 U.S. service members who deploy in a given year. Yet, there remains a need to adequately identify salient deployment experiences through survey measurement tools and understand how differential experiences are uniquely related to mental health outcomes. Therefore, this study examined the factor structure of an established combat experiences measure from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service members (Army STARRS) dataset to identify underlying survey constructs that reflect nuanced deployment experiences. Then, we examined the association between diverse combat experiences and current mental health symptoms (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms) and the mediating role of coping. Materials and Methods Data were drawn from the Army STARRS data (N = 14,860 soldiers), specifically the All Army Study component. A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to examine the dimensionality of the combat experiences scale, and then a path model was conducted to examine the relationships between combat experiences, coping with stress following a deployment, and mental health symptoms while controlling for relevant individual and interpersonal factors. Results Results from the principal component analysis suggested that the Army STARRS combat experiences scale encompasses two components, specifically: “Expected combat experiences” and “Responsible for non-enemy deaths.” Both “Expected combat experiences” and “Responsible for non-enemy deaths” were associated with higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, respectively, and “Responsible for non-enemy deaths” was also indirectly linked to these mental health outcomes through coping with stress after deployment. Conclusions These findings provide insight into the dimensionality of combat experiences and offer practitioners a more nuanced understanding of how to process unique combat experiences that differentially relate to mental health symptoms.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Pavlova ◽  
Jennifer Ference ◽  
Megan Hancock ◽  
Melanie Noel

Background. Pediatric chronic pain often emerges in adolescence and cooccurs with internalizing mental health issues and sleep impairments. Emerging evidence suggests that sleep problems may precede the onset of chronic pain as well as anxiety and depression. Studies conducted in pediatric populations with pain-related chronic illnesses suggest that internalizing mental health symptoms may mediate the sleep-pain relationship; however, this has not been examined in youth with primary pain disorders.Objective. To examine whether anxiety and depressive symptoms mediated relationships between sleep quality and pain outcomes among youth with chronic pain.Methods. Participants included 147 youth (66.7% female) aged 8–18 years who were referred to a tertiary-level chronic pain program. At intake, the youth completed psychometrically sound measures of sleep quality, pain intensity, pain interference, and anxiety and depressive symptoms.Results. As hypothesized, poor sleep quality was associated with increased pain intensity and pain interference, and anxiety and depressive symptoms mediated these sleep-pain relationships.Discussion. For youth with chronic pain, poor sleep quality may worsen pain through alterations in mood and anxiety; however, prospective research using objective measures is needed. Future research should examine whether targeting sleep and internalizing mental health symptoms in treatments improve pain outcomes in these youth.


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