Emotional Health Consequences Research Articles

Assessment of academic stress and its association with academic achievement among health science students

Abstract Background: Excessive stress may cause serious psychosocial and emotional health consequences. Academic stress influences the academic achievement of students. Aim: This study aimed to assess academic stress and its association with academic achievement among health science students in Kathmandu. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 268 health science students. Data were collected using the Scale for Assessing Academic Stress, to measure academic stress, academic activity-related questions, and academic Grade Point Average (GPA) from the previous semester which were used for academic performance. We selected students by systematic random sampling. We used a self-administered questionnaire method for data collection. Data were entered into EpiData software and transferred to IBM SPSS (version 25) for analysis. Descriptive analysis was performed by percentages and median (interquartile range). We used Pearson’s correlation and Chi-square tests to measure the association between academic stress, performance, and related factors. Results: A total of 31.7% and 35.4% of respondents had moderate and high academic stress, respectively. The correlation between academic achievement and academic stress was found to be negative (r = −0.201 and P = 0.001), but statistically significant. The association between sex (P = 0.008), academic environment at home (P = 0.041), teaching–learning materials at home (P = 0.022), and academic stress was found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: More than two-thirds of respondents had moderate and high academic stress. The relationship between stress and academic achievement is negatively correlated, which suggests that students do not need high academic stress to achieve substantial academic performance.

Perceived Consequences of COVID-19 Restrictive Visitation Policy on Family Members at Rural Hospitals in Vhembe District: A Qualitative Study.

From a public health standpoint, a stringent visitation policy was necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it had unforeseen communicative and emotional health consequences for family members. This study explored family members' experiences regarding implementing a restricted visitation policy when a patient was admitted with COVID-19 at public hospitals in the Vhembe district. Researchers used an exploratory, descriptive, and contextual qualitative technique. Twelve family members made up the population. Unstructured telephone interviews were used to obtain the data, and open coding was used to analyse data. Ethics were consistently followed. Before taking part, participants provided verbal informed consent, acknowledging that they could withdraw from the study if necessary. Three themes emerged: inadequate measures for temporary communication channels and techniques, the mental health effects of COVID-19 admission, and poor/lack of standardised visitation policy during the COVID 19-pandemic. There was a need to balance safety from contracting COVID-19 infection and promoting family-centred care. Virtual visits through telecommunication solutions could reduce fear and anxiety as the family could be updated on the progress of the hospitalised relative. Alternatively, hospital managers must allocate a dedicated person in the unit to update families when they call and enquire about the conditions.

Patient Perspectives on the Lived Experience of Acne and Its Treatment Among Adult Women With Acne

Acne often persists into adulthood in women. However, few studies have specifically explored the lived experience of acne in adult populations. To examine the lived experience of acne and its treatment among a cohort of adult women. A qualitative analysis was conducted from free listing and open-ended, semistructured interviews of patients at a large academic health care system (University of Pennsylvania Health System) and a private practice (Dermatologists of Southwest Ohio). Fifty women 18 to 40 years of age with moderate to severe acne participated in interviews conducted between August 30, 2019, and December 31, 2020. Free-listing data from interviews were used to calculate the Smith S, a measure of saliency for each list item. Semistructured interviews were examined to detect themes about patient perspectives regarding their acne and its treatment. Fifty participants (mean [SD] age, 28 [5.38] years; 24 [48%] White) described acne-related concerns about their appearance that affected their social, professional, and personal lives, with many altering their behavior because of their acne. Depression, anxiety, and social isolation were commonly reported. Participants described successful treatment as having completely clear skin over time or a manageable number of blemishes. Many participants described frustration with finding a dermatologist with whom they were comfortable and with identifying effective treatments for their acne. The results of this qualitative study suggest that women with acne have strong concerns about appearance and experience mental and emotional health consequences and disruption of their personal and professional lives. In addition, many patients describe challenges finding effective treatments and accessing care. Future trials to understand the optimal treatment approaches for women with acne are needed to improve outcomes in this population.

Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Version of the Surrogate Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale.

Surrogate decision making for patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) can have negative physical and emotional health consequences for the decision-maker. Improving confidence and self-efficacy may reduce these consequences, but a valid instrument is necessary for reliable measurement. Using a cross-sectional design, the current study aimed to translate the Surrogate Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale (SDM-SES) into Chinese and evaluate its psychometric properties for surrogate decision-makers (SDMs) of patients in the ICU. The English version of the SDM-SES was translated into Chinese according to Brislin's translation guidelines and tested in 107 Chinese SDMs of patients in the ICU. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.86, and a confirmatory factor analysis yielded acceptably high goodness-of-fit. Scores of the Chinese version of the SDM-SES were positively correlated with General Self-Efficacy Scale scores and 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale scores. This study indicates that the Chinese version of the SDM-SES has sufficient psychometric properties for assessing self-efficacy of SDMs for patients in the ICU. [Research in Gerontological Nursing, 14(1), 17-23.].

Screening to Identify the Unrecognized Victims in Practice: Implementing an EBP HITS Domestic Violence Tool in Neurology

Domestic violence (DV) or intimate partner violence (IPV) is the cause of major physical and emotional health consequences in neurological patients; yet many are not screened or referred for DV services. A need for the DV screening was identified for this project since the neurology practice did not have a DV screening policy and limited research for screening in neurology practices is in the literature. This pilot quality improvement (QI) study occurred in a 3-office private neurological practice in South Florida that treated 300 to 400 patients per month.

Providing Primary Care for HIV in the Context of Trauma: Experiences of the Health Care Team.

Trauma-informed health care for women living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attends not only to HIV treatment, but also to the many common physical and emotional health consequences of trauma. One principle of providing trauma-informed care is the acknowledgement that working with a population that has experienced extensive trauma affects the team members who care for them in the clinic, as well as the interactions between those team members. To understand the needs of one primary health care team, we conducted in-depth interviews with 21 providers, staff, and collaborators who provide care to patients within the clinic. We used symbolic interaction and grounded theory methods to examine how interactions unfold within the clinic and how they are influenced by trauma. The clinic team serves a highly traumatized and vulnerable population. Within this context, interactions between clinic staff unfold and trauma surfaces, and power dynamics play out along the lines of professional hierarchy. Although power differences cause tension within the clinic, professional hierarchy also serves as an important division of labor in times of medical crises. Clinic power dynamics may be influenced to improve the care environment for patients, and to realize a more effective and satisfying trauma-informed health care clinic for both patients and staff.

Understanding the Support Needs of Human-Trafficking Victims: A Review of Three Human-Trafficking Program Evaluations

Human trafficking is a global crime and human rights violation that affects nearly every country of the world. Victims of human trafficking may suffer severe physical, psychological, and emotional health consequences as they are often subjected to a range of abuses such as physical violence, sexual assault, emotional abuse, mind-control, and torture. A variety of human-trafficking victim support programs exist in the United States and other countries that receive human-trafficking victims to support their immediate and longer-term needs. There is a dearth of contemporary literature on the subject of the support needs of human-trafficking victims. Further, due to a lack of publicly available program evaluations, little is also known about whether victim support programs are able to meet the needs of human-trafficking victims. This article aims to bridge a gap in knowledge and understanding of human-trafficking victims’ support needs and whether they are being met by support programs by reviewing three recent U.S.-based human-trafficking victim support program evaluations.

Intervenciones psicológicas para el manejo y reducción de estrés en pacientes hipertensos: una revisión sobre su efectividad

La hipertensión está considerada como una de las principales problemáticas de salud pública, pues es una enfermedad crónica asintomáticacaracterizada por una elevación de presión arterial, en la que inciden los niveles de estrés que percibe el paciente y cuyas consecuencias puedenser devastadoras tanto en la salud física como emocional de este grupo. Se realizó una revisión analítica enfocada a la efectividad de diversostipos de intervención psicológica, para disminuir los niveles de presión sistólica, controlar el nivel de la presión diastólica, disminuir la percepcióndel estrés de los sujetos y propiciar una mayor adherencia al tratamiento. La búsqueda se realizó en la base de datos Springer, donde 50artículos cumplieron con los criterios de exclusión y de inclusión, para el periodo 2000-2013. La revisión arrojó una mayor inclinación hacialas intervenciones de tipo conductual (38%), sin embargo, las intervenciones cognitivo-conductuales fueron las más eficaces para disminuirlos niveles de estrés y generar la reducción más significativa en presión arterial, con un 100% de resultados positivos, mientras que solo el68.4% de los estudios conductuales reportó una mejoría.

Work Stress and Spiritual Behavior among Staff Nurses

Work stress in nursing profession has been global problem for many years now. Bad working conditions, redundant curriculum and limited opportunities are some of the reasons identified as the causes for holding nurses back. Lack of institutional support, lack of sufficient recourses, and ever increasing work load are matters of concern in nursing profession. As a result there is an increased work pressure over the existing nurses who are engaged in the care of patient which is also a reason for decline in quality of patient care. Increased work pressure has been associated with a variety of adverse attitudinal, behavioral, and emotional health consequences. There are various techniques and a stress management programme to overcome occupational stress, the most commonly used technique is spirituality. So this study was conducted to assess the work stress and spiritual behavior among staff nurses which will help nurse managers and administrators to develop an implement effective stress management programs for nurses. It was conducted using a quantitative, nonexperimental approach using a correlative design. Quota sampling was used to select 80 staff nurses and data were collected using a demographic data sheet, and likert scale was used to collect data on work stress and spiritual behavior. Overall work stress was found to be high (66.08%) among nurses highest in administration area (74.2%), followed by personal area (69%). The least work stress was reported regarding the profession (58.25%).The mean score of spiritual behavior among staff nurses was found to be found to high 92.64 ±11.23. There was found to be a negative correlation between work stress and spiritual behavior among staff nurses (r = -.219). The study urges all hospital administrators to develop and implement programs for staff nurses for managing stress in daily living to improve their personal health.

Physical Health, Mental Health, and Life Changes Among Family Caregivers of Patients With Lung Cancer

To describe physical health, mental health, and life changes among family caregivers of patients with lung cancer. Cross-sectional quantitative study. A university outpatient oncology center, two Veterans Affairs outpatient clinics, and a private outpatient oncology practice in Indianapolis, IN. 91 family caregivers of patients with lung cancer. Data were collected using standardized instruments and analyzed using descriptive statistics and hierarchical multiple regression. Demographic and medical factors, physical health, mental health, and life changes from caregiving. Caregivers' physical health and mental health were below population norms, whereas social functioning did not differ from norms. More than 50% of caregivers reported negative emotional effects of caregiving, and more than 33% reported negative physical health effects of caregiving. About 40% of caregivers, however, reported positive changes in their relationships with the patients with lung cancer and other family members as a result of caregiving. Caregivers' mental health was more strongly associated with life changes than physical health. Findings suggest that many family caregivers of patients with lung cancer experience negative physical and mental health effects of caregiving, whereas relations with family members improve for a substantial minority of caregivers. These positive and negative consequences of caregiving should be jointly considered when developing self-report measures and interventions for this population. Nurses can conduct brief screening assessments to identify caregivers with probable distress and can provide practical and psychosocial support, as well as referrals to support services. Findings suggest that interventions are needed to address the negative physical and emotional health consequences of caring for family members with lung cancer. Such interventions could build on the relational benefits of caregiving to improve the patient-caregiver relationship and expand caregivers' support system.

Professional compassion fatigue: what is the true cost of nurses caring for the dying?

Emerging evidence describes some of the heavy tolls that health professionals experience as they deal with the continual loss of patients. Each patient and family has particular needs (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual) and is deserving of expert end-of-life care, and it is this intensity of need that places nurses at risk of professional compassion fatigue (PCF). This pilot study aimed at further exploration of the prevalence of PCF among hospice and palliative care nurses, as well as the nature of its effects and any coping strategies that nurses adopt. A descriptive qualitative study was undertaken using semi-structured interviews with six highly experienced, purposively sampled nurses from a home health agency in northeast U.S.A. All six of the participants recognised the risks of developing PCF, and one was clearly experiencing PCF at the time of interview. Signs and symptoms were described and strategies for avoiding and alleviating PCF were discussed. There are clear physical and emotional health consequences for nurses who provide hospice and palliative care over extended periods of time. Further research is needed into the extent of the problem, specific causes, and coping strategies.

Gendered Physical and Emotional Health Consequences of Situational Couple Violence for Heterosexual Married and Cohabiting Couples

Research of intimate partner abuse has not adequately assessed the role of gender in situational couple violence (SCV). This research examines gendered effects of SCV on outcomes using longitudinal data from the United States National Survey of Family and Households. Results show gender asymmetries in physical health, depression, and fear outcomes of respondents exposed to SCV. Women exposed to physical SCV are less likely to report good physical health and more likely to report depression and fear than control-group women. No significant relationships are found for men. Implications suggest inclusion of outcomes when assessing gender symmetry in intimate partner abuse.

Military youth and the deployment cycle: Emotional health consequences and recommendations for intervention.

The United States military force includes over 2.2 million volunteer service members. Three out of five service members who are deployed or are preparing for deployment have spouses and/or children. Stressors associated with the deployment cycle can lead to depression, anxiety, and behavior problems in children, as well as psychological distress in the military spouse. Further, the emotional and behavioral health of family members can affect the psychological functioning of the military service member during the deployment and reintegration periods. Despite widespread acknowledgment of the need for emotional and behavioral health services for youth from military families, many professionals in a position to serve them struggle with how to best respond and select appropriate interventions. The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirically based and theoretically informed review to guide service provision and the development of evidence based treatments for military youth in particular. This review includes an overview of stressors associated with the deployment cycle, emotional and behavioral health consequences of deployment on youth and their caretaking parent, and existing preventative and treatment services for youth from military families. It concludes with treatment recommendations for older children and adolescents experiencing emotional and behavioral health symptoms associated with the deployment cycle.

"I don't eat a hamburger and large chips every day!" A qualitative study of the impact of public health messages about obesity on obese adults.

BackgroundWe are a society that is fixated on the health consequences of 'being fat'. Public health agencies play an important role in 'alerting' people about the risks that obesity poses both to individuals and to the broader society. Quantitative studies suggest people comprehend the physical health risks involved but underestimate their own risk because they do not recognise that they are obese.MethodsThis qualitative study seeks to expand on existing research by exploring obese individuals' perceptions of public health messages about risk, how they apply these messages to themselves and how their personal and social contexts and experiences may influence these perceptions. The study uses in depth interviews with a community sample of 142 obese individuals. A constant comparative method was employed to analyse the data.ResultsPersonal and contextual factors influenced the ways in which individuals interpreted and applied public health messages, including their own health and wellbeing and perceptions of stigma. Individuals felt that messages were overly focused on the physical rather than emotional health consequences of obesity. Many described feeling stigmatised and blamed by the simplicity of messages and the lack of realistic solutions. Participants described the need for messages that convey the risks associated with obesity while minimising possible stigmatisation of obese individuals. This included ensuring that messages recognise the complexity of obesity and focus on encouraging healthy behaviours for individuals of all sizes.ConclusionThis study is the first step in exploring the ways in which we understand how public health messages about obesity resonate with obese individuals in Australia. However, much more research - both qualitative and quantitative - is needed to enhance understanding of the impact of obesity messages on individuals.

Differences between European Americans and African Americans in the Association between Child Obesity and Disrupted Parenting

INTRODUCTIONThe rate of obesity among children has more than doubled the past 30 years (Berkowitz and Stunkard 2002) increasing concern about its physical and emotional health consequences (Braet, Mervielde, and Vandereycken 1997; DeJong and Kleck 1986). This increase has been especially marked among African- American children; rates of overweight and obesity among African American girls, for example, are nearly twice those of European American girls (Baskin, Ard, Franklin, and Allison 2005). Awareness of these trends has contributed to a growing interest in the social psychological causes and consequences of childhood obesity. One of the most active areas of research has emphasized the association between childhood obesity and dysfunctional family relationships. While this line of research has produced a number of important results (Favaro and Santonastaso 1995; Fulkerson, McGuire, Neumark-Sztainer, Story, French, and Perry 2002; Mendelson, White, and Schliecker 1995; Renman, Engstrom, Silfverdal, and Aman 1 999; Steinberg and Phares 200 1 ), we argue that it has also been limited in ways that reflect the medical and psychiatric perspectives long dominant in this field. In particular, there tends to be an assumption about causal direction-that poor parenting tends to make children overweight.In this paper, we draw from the family stress model developed by Conger and colleagues (Conger and Conger 2002) to propose an alternative perspective for understanding this relationship. According to this model, hardship and negative events create family stress. The emotional distress that results disrupts parenting which then leads to child and adolescent maladjustment. The model indicates that the stressor produces emotions and behaviors in parents that create problematic outcomes for children because they disrupt the parents' ability to engage in high quality parenting. Support for this model has been demonstrated in other studies using the same two samples utilized in the present study.We argue that, among European American parents, child overweight and obesity disrupts the quality of parenting children receive because the stigma associated with obesity acts as a stressor, making effective parenting more difficult. Theory and research on determinants of parenting have established that a child's characteristics do impact the parenting practices of mothers and fathers (Belsky 1984; Vondra and Belsky 1989). To date, this work has largely been limited to consideration of the effects of a child's temperament and has shown that parents are often less involved when their children have difficult temperaments (Lytton 1990; Sampson and Laub 1993; Simons, Johnson, Conger, and Elder 1998). Drawing from both Conger's (Conger, Wallace, Sun, Simons, McLoyd, and Brody 2002; Conger and Conger 2002) family stress model and research on the impact of stigma as a parental stressor, we argue that obesity is another child characteristic that is likely to have a disruptive effect on quality of involvement for some parents.STRESS AND THE STIGMA OF CHILDHOOD OBESITYParenting an overweight child may be stressful for a number of reasons. Fears about obesity's health consequences may be a significant stressor. Parents may feel guilty or frustrated by their inability to influence their child's weight trajectory. This may, in tum, exacerbate parents' worries about their children's physical and emotional well-being. Parents may also be embarrassed about having an obese child. Such feelings may have been exacerbated by negative comments from family members, school officials, or health care providers. All of these experiences may result in the feeling of stigma: a discrediting characteristic that influences both how people perceive themselves and how they are perceived and treated by others (Goffman 1963). In particular, stigma tends to evoke assessments of incompetence and lack of moral trustworthiness and is accompanied by status loss, negative treatment, and strained interactions for both the stigmatized person and his or her intimate associates (Jones, Farina, Hastorf, Markus, Miller, and Scott 1 984; Link and Phelan 200 1 ); we argue that such assessments may be particularly salient sources of stress for parents of overweight children. …

Weight-teasing and emotional well-being in adolescents: Longitudinal findings from Project EAT

Purpose To determine if weight-teasing predicts subsequent low self-esteem, poor body image, and depressive symptoms; and to examine two mechanisms through which early teasing may influence later emotional health. Methods A racially and socio-economically diverse sample of 2516 adolescents completed surveys for both Wave 1 (1998–99) and Wave 2 (2003–04) of the Project EAT study. Approximately one third of these were early adolescents who transitioned into middle adolescence, and two thirds were middle adolescents who transitioned into young adulthood. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted in three stages to test Model A: the total effect of Time 1 teasing on Time 2 emotional health; Model B: Model A, mediated by Time 2 teasing and body mass index (BMI); and Model C: Model B, also mediated by Time 1 emotional health. Results Approximately one third of males and slightly under half of females reported that they had been teased about their weight at Time 1. Time 1 teasing predicted lower self-esteem, lower body image, and higher depressive symptoms at Time 2 for males and females in the older and younger age groups. This relationship was fully mediated, however, by Time 2 teasing and BMI, and by Time 1 emotional health. Adjusted R 2 statistics for the final models ranged from .11 to .36. Conclusions Weight-teasing in adolescence affects emotional well-being at 5-year follow-up, and appears to function through two mechanisms. Reducing early teasing and its concurrent damages to emotional health may prevent longer-term emotional health consequences.

Patterns for the initiation of breastfeeding in humans.

Establishment of lactation has important biological and emotional health consequences for the newborn. Even so, substantial variation within a culture and among different cultures is seen in the onset of breastfeeding. Parametric mixture models are used to explore this variation and to uncover general human patterns for the initiation of breastfeeding. The model components reflect two hypothesized patterns of behavior. The first component is a "natural" pattern of breastfeeding that reflects, to some extent, a general mammalian behavior. The second component arises through culturally mediated behaviors that affect the initiation of breastfeeding. The model was fit by maximum likelihood to interval- and right-censored observations on 26220 mother-infant pairs collected from 25 previously published studies of breastfeeding behavior. Both model components were clearly statistically identified. Effects of cultural and geographic covariates were found to have significant effects on all components of the model. Although there is clear evidence for two distinct patterns of behavior in the initiation of breastfeeding, the results suggest that learned behaviors play an important role in mediating even "natural" breastfeeding behavior.