Reducing suicide risk in parentally bereaved youth through promoting effective parenting: testing a developmental cascade model

Children who experience parental death are at increased risk for suicide. The Family Bereavement Program (FBP) is an upstream preventive intervention for parentally bereaved families that was found to reduce suicide risk in parentally bereaved youth up to 6 and 15 years later. We tested whether FBP-induced improvements in effective parenting led to changes in multiple proximal factors that prior theory and research implicated in the cascading pathway to suicide risk, namely, aversive self-views, caregiver connectedness, peer connectedness, complicated grief, depressive symptoms, and emotion suppression. The sample was 244 bereaved youth and their surviving caregiver from 156 families. Families were randomized into the FBP (12 group-based sessions for parents, youth, and two joint sessions) or a literature control condition. Multimethod and multiinformant data were collected at baseline, posttest, 6-year and 15-year follow-up assessments. Results showed that program-induced improvements in effective parenting at posttest were associated with reduced aversive self-views and increased caregiver connectedness at the 6-year follow-up, and each mediator was in turn associated with reduced suicide risk at the 6- and 15-year follow-up. The mediated pathways via aversive self-views remained significant while controlling for caregiver connectedness. Self-related concepts may be important targets in upstream suicide prevention for at-risk youth.

Mediators for the Effect of Compassion Cultivating Training: A Longitudinal Path Analysis in a Randomized Controlled Trial Among Caregivers of People With Mental Illness

Background: There is a paucity of research on mediators of change, within compassion training programs. The aim was to investigate the mediators, of an 8-week compassion cultivation training (CCT) program, on the effect of psychological distress on caregivers of people with a mental illness.Method: Longitudinal path models in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). One hundred ninety-two participants were assessed for eligibility, and 161 participants were included into the trial and randomized. The main outcome was psychological distress measured by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress scale at 6 months. Mediators included self-compassion (SC), mindfulness (FM), emotion regulation (ER), emotion suppression (ES), and cognitive reappraisal (CR). Baseline, post, and 3- and 6-month follow-up measurements were collected.Results: The mediated effects for CCT are as follows: depression at 6 months: SC: −1.81 (95% CI: −3.31 to −0.31); FM: −1.98 (95% CI: −3.65 to −0.33); ER: −0.14 (95% CI: −1.31 to 1.02); anxiety at 6 months: SC: −0.71 (95% CI: −1.82 to 0.40); FM: −1.24 (95% CI: −2.39 to −0.09); ER: 0.18 (95% CI: −1.04 to 1.40); stress at 6 months: SC: −1.44 (95% CI: −2.84 to −0.05); FM: −2.17 (95% CI: −3.63 to −0.71); ER: −0.27 (95% CI: −1.51 to 0.98).Conclusion: Mindfulness and self-compassion are important components in reducing psychological distress experienced by informal caregivers of people with a mental illness. Results contribute to the knowledge about the underlying mechanisms of CCT.

The Correlation between Nurses’ COVID-19 Infections and Their Emotional State and Work Conditions during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has significantly influenced the functioning of Polish hospitals, and thus, the working conditions of nurses. Research on the presence of specific negative emotions in nurses may help identify deficits in the future, as well as directing preventive actions. The present research was performed among nurses (n = 158) working in Polish healthcare facilities during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, where Group A (n = 79) consisted of nurses diagnosed with COVID-19, and Group B (n = 79) nurses who have never been infected with COVID-19. To perform the research, the Courtauld Emotional Control Scale (CECS), Trait Anxiety Scale (Polish: SL-C) and the authors’ survey questionnaire were used. A positive test result was generally determined more often among nurses who indicated a noninfectious ward as their main workplace, compared to nurses employed in infectious wards (64.55% positive vs 33.45% negative). Over a half of the subjects identified moderate levels of emotion suppression as the method to regulate strong emotions, while one-quarter cited high levels of suppression. Anxiety was suppressed at high and moderate levels by 97% of the subjects, depression by 86.71%, and anger by 79.48%. Infection with COVID-19 results in a higher level of anxiety and depression, as well as a feeling of increased work load.

COVID-19 pandemic and health worker stress: The mediating effect of emotional regulation

Background/Introduction Psychological and physical well-being of health personnel has been significantly affected by COVID-19. Work overload and continuous exposure to positive COVID-19 cases have caused them fatigue, stress, anxiety, insomnia and other detriments. This research aims: 1) to analyze whether the use of cognitive reevaluation and emotional suppression strategies decreases and increases, respectively, stress levels of health personnel; 2) to quantify the impact of contact with patients with COVID-19 on stress levels of medical staff. Method Emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reevaluation and emotional expression) and stress levels were evaluated in 155 Dominican physicians who were treating people infected with COVID-19 at the moment of the study (67.9% women and 32.1% men; mean age = 34.89; SD = 9.26). In addition, a questionnaire created by the researchers quantified the impact that contact with those infected had on their stress levels. Results Contact with patients with COVID-19 predicts increased use of emotion suppression strategies, although is not associated with the use of cognitive reevaluation. These findings lead to an even greater increase in stress on health care providers. Conclusions Contextual contingencies demand immediate responses and may not allow health personnel to use cognitive re-evaluation strategies, leaning more towards emotion suppression. However, findings regarding high levels of stress require the implementation of intervention programs focused on the promotion of more functional emotion regulation strategies. Such programs may reduce current stress and prevent post-traumatic symptoms.

Emotional Control among Nurses against Work Conditions and the Support Received during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

Introduction. Working in the state of a pandemic is a huge mental load for the medical environment. Aim. Evaluation of emotional control among nurses against work conditions and the support received during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Material and methods. The research was performed among nurses (n = 577) working during the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in infectious (n = 201) and non-infectious (n = 376) wards in 11 Polish hospitals. To evaluate work conditions, the questionnaire prepared by the authors and the Emotional Control Scale (Courtauld Emotional Control Scale—CECS), which rates the control of anger, depression, and fear were used. Results. In the entire research group, fear had the highest rate of suppression among the negative emotions—18.25 points, 17.91 points in infectious wards and 18.44 points among nurses working in non-infectious wards; p > 0.05. The nurses fear was significantly repressed when there was no possibility of the nurses having to perform a COVID-19 test in the workplace ; p < 0.05. A larger emotional supressed occurred in nurses who simultaneously declared the perception of increased stress level; p < 0.05. Conclusions. A high level of emotion suppression, especially regarding fear, combined with higher stress levels, occurring irrespective of the ward, points at the need for mental support for the researched nurses.

Perceived Stress and Life Satisfaction Among Chinese Clinical Nursing Teachers: A Moderated Mediation Model of Burnout and Emotion Regulation

Our previous study indicated that clinical teaching nurses in China suffered high levels of perceived stress and burnout, mainly because they were taking double responsibilities of nursing and teaching at the same time. The study aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of how and when perceived stress increased the risk of burnout and decreased life satisfaction among clinical teaching nurses. Questionnaires about perceived stress, burnout, emotion regulation, and life satisfaction were self-administered to 1,372 teaching nurses from eight tertiary military hospitals in China. Correlation and hierarchical multiple regressions were employed for data analysis. The results revealed that perceived stress had direct and indirect impacts on life satisfaction, with the principal element of burnout—emotional exhaustion—acting as a mediator. Moreover, the association between perceived stress and emotional exhaustion was moderated by emotion suppression—a key emotion regulation strategy. The negative impact of perceived stress on burnout was stronger among teaching nurses with high emotion suppression than among those with low emotion suppression. The present study contributed to a deeper understanding of the relationship between perceived stress and life satisfaction and also suggested further research into emotion regulation interventions to alleviate or eliminate the impact of perceived stress on burnout and eventually improve the life satisfaction for Chinese clinical nursing teachers.

Reducing suicide risk in parentally bereaved youth through promoting effective parenting: Testing a developmental cascade model.

Children who experience the death of a parent are at increased risk for suicidality. The Family Bereavement Program (FBP) is a preventive intervention for parentally bereaved families that was found to reduce suicidal thoughts or attempts in parentally bereaved youth up to 6 and 15 years later. In this study, we tested whether FBP-induced improvement in parenting led to changes in multiple factors that prior theory and research implicated in the pathway to suicide risk, namely, aversive self-views, caregiver and peer connectedness, grief, depressive symptoms and emotion suppression. The sample was 244 bereaved youth and their surviving caregiver from 156 families. Families were randomized into the FBP (twelve group-based sessions for parents, youth, and two joint sessions) or literature control condition. Caregivers and youth completed baseline, post-test, 6 years and 15 years follow-up assessments. Results showed that program-induced improved parenting at post-test was associated with reduced aversive self-views and increased caregiver connectedness at 6 years follow-up, and each was in turn associated with reduced suicide risk at 6 and 15 years follow-up. The mediated pathways via aversive self-views remained significant while controlling for the pathways via caregiver connectedness. We discussed the theoretical and clinical implications of the findings.