Enhancing Active Engagement for Dementia Caregivers: A Synthesis of Interventions

In a recent meta-analysis of interventions for dementia caregivers, psychoeducational interventions were found to be effective only if they required caregivers to apply knowledge and skills through active engagement. This emphasizes the importance of understanding which intervention components enhance application in order to improve caregiving interventions and the mechanisms by which they work. The purpose of this presentation is to identify and assess elements of active engagement within dementia caregiving interventions. Articles included in this review were published between 2009 and 2018 and identified as psychoeducational dementia caregiving interventions. Each intervention was assessed to describe: 1) how active engagement was defined, 2) the logistics for implementing the active engagement techniques, 3) and the process for evaluating active engagement components. Of 36 articles meeting inclusion criteria, 25 mentioned active engagement components of the intervention. Active components included discussion, problem-solving, practice, role-play, action plans, and homework. Only five articles provided partial descriptions of the active components, five mentioned assessing active engagement, and only one study examined the efficacy of an engagement technique. This demonstrates a significant gap in our understanding of interventions for dementia caregivers. Active engagement enhances outcomes, yet to our knowledge, the specific steps taken to engage caregivers actively and the mechanisms by which these work are unclear. This is a barrier to optimizing active engagement within intervention delivery. Clarifying processes and methods for testing mechanisms of action can further enhance caregiver engagement with interventions.

Psychoeducational Interventions on Conflict Resolution Styles among Individuals Involved in Commuter Marriages

Couples in commuter marriages who live apart face many challenges, such as having ineffective communications which lead to conflict. Couples who use a positive and constructive conflict resolution style, have a better chance of getting a better quality of marital life. This intervention aims to provide psychoeducation to participants in order to understand conflict resolution styles that can be applied when dealing with and resolving conflicts in commuter marriages. The evaluation of the intervention effect was carried out by comparing the knowledge and skill to the application of conflict resolution styles, before and after the intervention. After being given psychoeducation, it was found that 25 participants changed the resolution style they would use when experiencing conflict with their partner. While the other 5 participants still chose the same resolution style. In conclusion, through this psychoeducation, participants have new knowledge about various resolution styles that can be used, and according to the conflict conditions experienced by each partner.

Recognising and healing emotional wounds of child labourers: call to action based on the evidence and stakeholder views from India and Nepal

Child labourers are at risk of poorer mental health and once rescued require urgent mental health interventions to ameliorate the long-term impact. In our review, only two published scientific studies evaluated custom-made interventions; other programmes were obtained from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which need rigorous trial evaluation. We also sought the viewpoints of stakeholders working directly with rescued young people, as well as consulting young people with lived experiences of child labour. We propose that psychoeducational interventions aimed at employees working directly with young people could represent a fruitful approach for low- and middle-income countries in the Asia-Pacific region but also more generally.

Narratives of bullying and emersion of self-compassion expressions in adolescents

This study aimed to investigate the narratives of bullying and the expression of self-compassion in statements written by adolescents as a possible coping strategy. Participated 162 adolescents from a state in northern Brazil. The data collected in written testimonials were categorized based on Bardin’s Content Analysis. The instructions provided for preparing the testimonies supported the structuring of four categories: 1) bullying experience; 2) reasons for bullying; 3) consequences of bullying; 4) coping strategies and self-compassion expressions. The results suggest 63.7% of adolescents witnessed bullying behaviors. Physical characteristics were the main motivation reported toward bullying. Negative feelings and psychosomatic symptoms were the main consequences reported. The adolescents reported forms of self-compassion as a coping resource before receiving psychoeducation about the concept. The implications of these findings and the use of psychoeducational interventions on bullying and self-compassion are discussed.

Risk Suicide, Anxiety, and Coping Strategies

In this paper, we sought to examine the levels of suicidal risk and anxiety, as well as the coping strategies used in a sample of 154 Spanish university students, most of them first-year students, during the situation of confinement and the pandemic. After approval by the Ethics Committee, instruments for the evaluation of these constructs were administered. An ex post facto design was used. A high level of suicide risk was not found in the sample. Statistically significant differences were found in the levels of suicidal risk and anxiety according to gender, with higher scores in both variables for women. Likewise, the coping strategies of self-criticism and social withdrawal show direct associations with the levels of suicidal risk. We conclude by pointing out the relevance of the data obtained for a more effective design of psychoeducational interventions to face these public health problems with the training of effective coping strategies.

Adolescents’ Empowerment for Mental Health Literacy in School: A Pilot Study on ProLiSMental Psychoeducational Intervention

Adolescence is a critical life phase for mental health and anxiety an emerging challenge for adolescents. Psychoeducational interventions to promote mental health literacy (MHL) on anxiety in adolescents are needed. This study aimed to test the primary outcome of a future full-scale trial: improvement of adolescents’ anxiety MHL components on recognition, prevention strategies, and self-help strategies. A sample of 38 adolescents, 24 (63.2%) females and 14 (36.8%) males, with an average age of 14.50 years (SD = 0.89) participated in this study. Each class was allocated to the intervention group (IG, n = 21) or the waiting list control group (WLCG, n = 17) with single-blinded randomization. MHL was assessed using the QuALiSMental. The ProLiSMental psychoeducational intervention consists of four or eight weekly sessions of 90 or 45 min for adolescents, using different active pedagogical methods and techniques. There also are initial and final sessions with adolescents, legal guardians, and teachers. There was a significant improvement with a small to relatively strong effect size in many dimensions of anxiety MHL components. This study suggests the progression to the full-scale trial and values the important role of mental health and psychiatric nurses in the adolescents’ empowerment for MHL in schools.

Psychoeducation for Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review

This systematic review presents a brief and comprehensive summary of psychoeducational programs that have been designed for and tested in patients with fibromyalgia, with a focus on the features of the interventions and their main results regarding the patients’ clinical outcome. A bibliographical search performed in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library and PsycInfo targeted publications, related to the terms “fibromyalgia” and “psychoeducation.” Information regarding the studies’ designs, age criterion, sample size, sex distribution and mean age of participants, and assessment time points, was recorded. If applicable, group distributions along with the main results regarding the patients’ clinical outcome, and features of the psychoeducational interventions were registered. Initial search eliciting 77 citations reduced to 10 relevant papers. Most of the reports come from two research projects from Spain (n = 6), worked with adult samples (n = 9), and most participants were females (88%–98%). Interventions reported significant improvements in the patients’ clinical outcomes in measures of pain intensity, fatigue, sleep quality, depression, anxiety, functional ability cognitive impairment, and quality of life. Results show not only that psychoeducational programs for the treatment of fibromyalgia are feasible, but also that they can be effective for managing physical and emotional symptoms, in particular, pain and depression.