scholarly journals Religious Affiliation in Relation to Positive Mental Health and Mental Disorders in a Multi-Ethnic Asian Population

Author(s):  
Janhavi Ajit Vaingankar ◽  
Niyanta Choudhary ◽  
Siow Ann Chong ◽  
Fiona Devi Siva Kumar ◽  
Edimansyah Abdin ◽  
...  

Background: This study investigated association of religious affiliation with positive mental health (PMH) and mental disorders. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 2270 adults was conducted in Singapore. Participants reported their religious affiliation to Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Taoism, or other religions. A PMH instrument measured total PMH and six subcomponents: general coping (GC), emotional support (ES), spirituality (S), interpersonal skills (IS), personal growth and autonomy (PGA), and global affect (GA). Lifetime history of mental disorders was assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Results: Total PMH (mean ± SD) was 4.56 ± 0.66 for participants with any religion versus 4.12 ± 0.63 (p = 0.002) in those without any religion. After adjustment for all potential confounders, the mean difference in total PMH between these groups was 0.348 (95% CI: 0.248–0.448). Having any religion was significantly associated with higher scores for S, GC, ES, IS, but not with PGA, GA or mental disorders. Compared with individuals without any religion, total PMH and S levels were significantly higher across all religions. Additionally, Christianity was significantly associated with higher ES, Taoism with higher GC, Buddhism and Islam with higher GC, ES and IS, Hinduism with higher IS and Sikhism with higher ES and IS. Conclusion: Our results indicate that religious affiliation is significantly associated with higher PMH, but not with mental disorders in an Asian community setting. In addition, different religions showed unique patterns of association with PMH subcomponents.

Author(s):  
Janhavi Ajit Vaingankar ◽  
Falk Müller-Riemenschneider ◽  
Anne Hin Yee Chu ◽  
Mythily Subramaniam ◽  
Linda Wei Lin Tan ◽  
...  

Background: We assessed the associations of sleep, physical activity and sedentary behaviour with positive mental health (PMH) in the multi-ethnic population of Singapore. Methods: The Singapore Health 2 study is a nationally representative cross-sectional survey among residents aged 18–79 years. A PMH instrument was administered to 1925 participants to obtain total PMH and six sub-component scores. Self-rated sleep duration, sleep quality, sedentary behaviour and physical activity were assessed. Multivariable linear regression analyses were conducted. Results: The mean age of the participants was 40.1 (SD 14.3) years. Sleep duration (≥8 h/night: β = 0.17,95% CI: 0.02–0.32; 7–< 8 h/night: β = 0.17,95% CI: 0.03–0.30 versus <6 h/night, p = 0.002), sleep quality (very good: β = 0.45,95% CI: 0.29–0.60; fairly good: β = 0.20,95% CI: 0.06–0.33 versus very/fairly bad; ptrend < 0.001) and physical activity (high: β = 0.19,95% CI: 0.05–0.32; moderate: β = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.03–0.27 versus low; ptrend < 0.001) were directly associated with total PMH. Sedentary behaviour was not significantly associated with PMH. Sleep duration, sleep quality and physical activity were directly associated with the PMH sub-components ‘emotional support’ and ‘personal growth and autonomy’. Conclusions: Duration and quality of sleep and physical activity were directly associated with PMH in an urban Asian population. These findings support incorporating sleep and physical activity interventions to improve population mental health.


BJPsych Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 346-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cecilia Menegatti-Chequini ◽  
Juliane P.B. Gonçalves ◽  
Frederico C. Leão ◽  
Mario F. P. Peres ◽  
Homero Vallada

BackgroundAlthough there is evidence of a relationship between religion/ spirituality and mental health, it remains unclear how Brazilian psychiatrists deal with the religion/spirituality of their patients.AimsTo explore whether Brazilian psychiatrists enquire about religion/spirituality in their practice and whether their own beliefs influence their work.MethodFour hundred and eighty-four Brazilian psychiatrists completed a cross-sectional survey on religion/spirituality and clinical practice.ResultsMost psychiatrists had a religious affiliation (67.4%) but more than half of the 484 participants (55.5%) did not usually enquire about patients' religion/spirituality. The most common reasons for not assessing patients' religion/spirituality were ‘being afraid of exceeding the role of a doctor’ (30.2%) and ‘lack of training’ (22.3%).ConclusionsVery religious/spiritual psychiatrists were the most likely to ask about their patients' religion/spirituality. Training in how to deal with a patient's religiosity might help psychiatrists to develop better patient rapport and may contribute to the patient's quicker recovery.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Alonso ◽  
Gemma Vilagut ◽  
Philippe Mortier ◽  
Montse Ferrer ◽  
Itxaso Alayo ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTIntroductionHealthcare workers are vulnerable to adverse mental health impacts of COVID-19. We assessed prevalence of mental disorders and associated factors during the first wave of the pandemic among healthcare professionals in Spain.MethodsAll workers in 18 healthcare institutions (6 AACC) in Spain were invited to a series of online surveys assessing a wide range of individual characteristics, COVID-19 infection status and exposure, and mental health status. Here we report: current mental disorders (Major Depressive Disorder-MDD- [PHQ-8≥10], Generalized Anxiety Disorder-GAD- [GAD-7≥10], Panic attacks, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder –PTSD- [PCL-5≥7]; and Substance Use Disorder –SUD-[CAGE-AID≥2]. Severe disability assessed by the Sheehan Disability Scale was used to identify “disabling” current mental disorders.Results9,138 healthcare workers participated. Prevalence of screen-positive disorder: 28.1% MDD; 22.5% GAD, 24.0% Panic; 22.2% PTSD; and 6.2% SUD. Overall 45.7% presented any current and 14.5% any disabling current mental disorder. Healthcare workers with prior lifetime mental disorders had almost twice the prevalence of current disorders than those without. Adjusting for all other variables, odds of any disabling mental disorder were: prior lifetime disorders (TUS: OR=5.74; 95%CI 2.53-13.03; Mood: OR=3.23; 95%CI:2.27-4.60; Anxiety: OR=3.03; 95%CI:2.53-3.62); age category 18-29 years (OR=1.36; 95%CI:1.02-1.82), caring “all of the time” for COVID-19 patients (OR=5.19; 95%CI: 3.61-7.46), female gender (OR=1.58; 95%CI: 1.27-1.96) and having being in quarantine or isolated (OR= 1.60; 95CI:1.31-1.95).ConclusionsCurrent mental disorders were very frequent among Spanish healthcare workers during the first wave of COVID-19. As the pandemic enters its second wave, careful monitoring and support is needed for healthcare workers, especially those with previous mental disorders and those caring COVID-19 very often.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 759-767
Author(s):  
Mélanie Varin ◽  
Elia Palladino ◽  
Heather M. Orpana ◽  
Suzy L. Wong ◽  
Mihaela Gheorghe ◽  
...  

BMJ Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. e018735 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Boulos ◽  
Deniz Fikretoglu

ObjectiveThe primary objective was to explore differences in mental health problems (MHP) between serving Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) components (Regular Force (RegF); Reserve Force (ResF)) with an Afghanistan deployment and to assess the contribution of both component and deployment experiences to MHP using covariate-adjusted prevalence difference estimates. Additionally, mental health services use (MHSU) was descriptively assessed among those with a mental disorder.DesignData came from the 2013 CAF Mental Health Survey, a cross-sectional survey of serving personnel (n=72 629). Analyses were limited to those with an Afghanistan deployment (population n=35 311; sampled n=4854). Logistic regression compared MHP between RegF and ResF members. Covariate-adjusted prevalence differences were computed.Primary outcome measureThe primary outcomes were MHP, past-year mental disorders, identified using the WHO’s Composite International Diagnostic Interview, and past-year suicide ideation.ResultsResF personnel were less likely to be identified with a past-year anxiety disorder (adjusted OR (AOR)=0.72 (95% CI 0.58 to 0.90)), specifically both generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder, but more likely to be identified with a past-year alcohol abuse disorder (AOR=1.63 (95% CI 1.04 to 2.58)). The magnitude of the covariate-adjusted disorder prevalence differences for component was highest for the any anxiety disorder outcome, 2.8% (95% CI 1.0 to 4.6); lower for ResF. All but one deployment-related experience variable had some association with MHP. The ‘ever felt responsible for the death of a Canadian or ally personnel’ experience had the strongest association with MHP; its estimated covariate-adjusted disorder prevalence difference was highest for the any (of the six measured) mental disorder outcome (11.2% (95% CI 6.6 to 15.9)). Additionally, ResF reported less past-year MHSU and more past-year civilian MHSU.ConclusionsPast-year MHP differences were identified between components. Our findings suggest that although deployment-related experiences were highly associated with MHP, these only partially accounted for MHP differences between components. Additional research is needed to further investigate MHSU differences between components.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor Quirke ◽  
Vitalii Klymchuk ◽  
Orest Suvalo ◽  
Ioannis Bakolis ◽  
Graham Thornicroft

Abstract Background and study objectives This study aimed to assess among Ukrainian adults: (1) knowledge of mental disorders; (2) attitudes towards people with mental health disorders, and to the delivery of mental health treatment within the community; and (3) behaviours towards people with mental disorders. Methodology A cross-sectional survey of Ukrainian adults aged 18–60 was conducted. Stigma-related mental health knowledge was measured using the mental health knowledge schedule. Attitude towards people with mental health disorders was assessed using the Community Attitudes towards Mental Illness scale. The Reported and Intended Behaviour scale was used to assess past and future intended behaviour towards people with mental health disorders. Results Associations between gender, age, and educational level and the knowledge and attitudes measures were identified. There was evidence of a positive association between being male and positive intended behaviours towards people with mental health disorders [mean difference (MD) = 0.509, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.021–0.998]. Older age was negatively associated with positive intended behaviours towards people with mental health disorders (MD = −0.017, 95% CI 0.0733 to −0.001). Higher education was positively associated with stigma-related mental health knowledge (MD = 0.438, 95% CI 0.090–0.786), and negatively associated with authoritarian (MD = 0.755, 95% CI 0.295–1.215) attitudes towards people with mental health problems. Conclusion Overall, the findings indicate a degree of awareness of, and compassion towards, people with mental illness among Ukrainian adults, although this differed according to gender, region, and education level. Results indicate a need for the adoption and scaling-up of anti-stigma interventions that have been demonstrated to be effective.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qaisar Khalid Mahmood ◽  
Malik Muhammad Sohail ◽  
Waheed Ahmad Qureshi ◽  
Rubeena Zakar ◽  
Florian Fischer

Abstract Background: The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has posed multiple challenges to healthcare systems. Evidence suggests that mental well-being is badly affected due to compliance with preventative measures in containing the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to explore the role of positive mental health (subjective sense of wellbeing) to cope with fears related to COVID-19 and general anxiety disorder in the Pashtun community in Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 501 respondents from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa participating in an online-based study. We performed correlational analysis, hierarchical linear regression and structural equational modeling (SEM) to analyze the role of mental health in reducing fears and general anxiety disorder. Results: The results of the SEM show that positive mental health has direct effects in reducing the fear related to COVID-19 (β=-0.244, p<0.001) and general anxiety (β= -0.210, p<0.001). Fears of COVID-19 has a direct effect on increasing general anxiety (β=0.480). In addition, positive mental health also has an indirect effect (β=-0.117, p<0.001) on general anxiety (R2=0.32, p<0.001) through reducing fear of coronavirus. Conclusion: Based on these findings, there is a need to develop community health policies emphasizing on promotive and preventive mental health strategies for people practicing social/physical distancing.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarita Sood ◽  
Ananya Sharma

Abstract A sudden outbreak of diseases poses a serious threat to mental health. Relying on strengths might mitigate negative mental health outcomes and promote positive mental health. Prior research suggests a potential moderated mediation effect between fear of illness and subjective psychological well-being. Based on the Complete State Model and the Competence-Based Model of mental health, this study examined the relationship between fear of illness and subjective psychological well-being through perceived distress moderated by resilience in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional survey using questionnaires was employed. Data were collected online from 384 participants ( 270 females and 114 males, age range= 15 to 29 years). The participants had indirect exposure to COVID-19 through information from the media. Results demonstrated that fear of illness significantly predicts subjective psychological well-being both directly and indirectly. In addition, the moderated mediation effect of resilience was confirmed. Resilience moderated the indirect effect between fear of illness and subjective psychological well-being through perceived distress. The magnitude of the indirect effect was contingent on resilience. Further, the effect of perceived distress on subjective psychological well-being is weakened as the level of resilience increases. This study contributes theoretically to a better understanding of the salutogenic effect of resilience on positive mental health during a pandemic. Based on the findings, implications and future directions are discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janhavi Ajit Vaingankar ◽  
Edimansyah Abdin ◽  
Siow Ann Chong ◽  
Rajeswari Sambasivam ◽  
Anitha Jeyagurunathan ◽  
...  

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