Teacher Training Needs and their Influencing Factors: A Case Study of 13 Chinese Border School Teachers

Teacher training is not only the way to improve the quality of teachers in China's border areas, but also one of the collaborative paths to promote the high-quality development of regional education. Teacher training needs to provide a practical reference for specific service teacher training. Through conducting semi-structured, in-depth interviews, and using the grounded-theory three-level coding method for discourse analysis, this study explores teacher training needs and their influencing factors and how such factors influenced teacher learning and the development of teaching communities in border areas, in China. In the coding process, the researchers used MAXQDA (20.4.0) for auxiliary analysis. This work has constructed a model of teacher training needs and its influencing factors. Teacher training needs in border areas include training format, training content, training intensity, training opportunities, and training practicality. The factors include subjective factors, organizational development, institutional environmental factors, and field culture factors. According to the results of the model analysis, we put forward these optimization strategies: provide special mental health courses and counseling services for border teachers; carry out school-based training to form teachers' learning community; plan special training and create an international influence of border education, which would enhance teachers’ sense of professional honor and improve the perception threshold of achievement.

Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic within institutional quarantine and isolation centres and its sociodemographic correlates in Qatar: a cross-sectional study

SettingThe State of Qatar has had one of the highest COVID-19 infection rates globally and has used state-managed quarantine and isolation centres to limit the spread of infection. Quarantine and isolation have been shown to negatively affect the mental health of individuals. Qatar has a unique population, with around 90% of the population being economic migrants and a majority being blue-collar workers and labourers.ObjectivesThis study was carried out to evaluate the psychological impact of institutional isolation and quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Qatar. The study also explored the sociodemographic correlates of this psychological impact.Design, participants and interventionA cross-sectional study involving 748 consenting individuals in institutional quarantine and isolation in Qatar during the months of June and July 2020 was carried out. Relevant sociodemographic data along with depressive and anxiety symptomatology scores were collected from consenting adults at these facilities.Results37.4% (n=270) of respondents reported depressive symptoms and 25.9% (n=189) reported anxiety symptoms. The scores were higher for individuals in isolation facilities and higher for migrants from poor socioeconomic group (p<0.001 for both). Within this group, although worries about infection were widely reported, lack of contact with the family was cited as one of the most important sources of distress. Respondents reported that contact with the family and reliable information were important factors that helped during the duration of isolation and quarantine.ConclusionsOur study reported significantly elevated scores for depression and anxiety during institutional quarantine, which is in keeping with emerging evidence. However, in contrast to other studies reporting mostly from native populations, this study of a population with an overwhelming majority of immigrants highlights the special mental health needs of this specific group and can inform future healthcare policies.

Implementation of Mental Health Policies toward Indonesia Free Restraint

Mental health disorders are still one of the most prominent health problems in the world, including in Indonesia. There is still a misguided stigma and discrimination on people with mental disorders, so more than 56,000 of them experience restraint. This study aims to determine the efforts and review the implementation of Law no. 18/2014 about Mental Health until 2017. This is a policy study using literature review. Descriptive exploration is done using a policy analysis framework in the implementation phase based on Edwards III model. The unit of analysis is mental health policy in Indonesia. The results show that only a few local governments initiate special mental health regulations as well as more operational programs. Activities are still focused on curative and rehabilitative efforts. There has been prevention of deprivation through the ‘Indonesia Free Restraint’ program since 1977 but this has not gone well. The communication process encountered problems of unclear and inconsistent information. Moreover, not all local governments use the authority to regulate the mental health policy to mobilize resources. Law no. 18/2014 has not been implemented optimally. Not all implementers and policy targets are dedicated to direction of the Law. Neither not all aspects of mental health efforts have programs, Standard Operating Procedure and coordination governance. Conversely, optimal implementation can be done by introducing it as an element of primary health in basic health service.

Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary and “Supermax” Confinement

This article discusses the recent increase in the use of solitary-like confinement, especially the rise of so-called supermax prisons and the special mental health issues and challenges they pose. After briefly discussing the nature of these specialized and increasingly widespread units and the forces that have given rise to them, the article reviews some of the unique mental-health-related issues they present, including the large literature that exists on the negative psychological effects of isolation and the unusually high percentage of mentally ill prisoners who are confined there. It ends with a brief discussion of recent caselaw that addresses some of these mental health issues and suggests that the courts, though in some ways appropriately solicitous of the plight of mentally ill supermax prisoners, have overlooked some of the broader psychological problems these units create.

Mental Health Law: An Idea whose Time has Passed

In this paper I argue that specific mental health law should not exist and should be replaced by modern guardianship law which is non-discriminatory and which intervenes according to need rather than diagnostic classification. Substituted consent provided by a guardian protects the patient and the treatment provider. Custody to prevent danger to others should remain with courts rather than informal proceedings where individual rights to freedom are less carefully protected. Special mental health law stigmatises people with mental illness and degrades their treatment. It also diminishes the standing of the psychiatric profession which advocates the continuation of such laws.