Mental Health Scale Research Articles

Validation of the COVID-19 Exposure and Family Impact Scales.

ObjectiveThe COVID-19 Exposure and Family Impact Scales (CEFIS) were developed in Spring 2020 to assess effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on families and caregivers. Initial psychometric properties were promising. The current study examined the factor structure and evaluated convergent and criterion validity of the CEFIS in a new sample.MethodsIn October and November 2020, caregivers (N = 2,531) of youth (0–21 years) scheduled for an ambulatory care visit at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware completed the CEFIS and measures of convergent (PROMIS Global Mental Health Scale, Family Assessment Device) and criterion validity (PTSD Checklist—Civilian). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of the CEFIS. Bivariate correlations and logistic regression were used to examine convergent and criterion validity.ResultsFactor analysis supported the original six- and three-factor structures for the Exposure and Impact scales, respectively. Second-order factor analyses supported the use of Exposure, Impact, and Distress total scores. Higher scores on the CEFIS Exposure, Impact, and Distress scales were associated with increased mental health concerns and poorer family functioning. Higher scores on all CEFIS scales were also associated with greater odds of having clinically significant posttraumatic stress symptoms.ConclusionsThe CEFIS is a psychometrically sound measure of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family and caregiver functioning and may also be useful in identifying families who would benefit from psychological supports.

Comparison of the effectiveness of unicompartmental arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty based on patient scale data

To compare the patient-reported outcomes regarding function, joint amnesia, and the quality of life after unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The clinical data of patients who received UKA or TKA between September 2017 and June 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. After propensity score matching, 40 patients (40 knees) each in TKA group and UKA group were finally included in the study. There was no significant difference between the two groups in gender, age, body mass index, surgical side, preoperative knee range of motion, Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score, clinical and function scores of knee society score (KSS) ( P>0.05). At 2 years after operation, WOMAC score, KSS clinical and function scores were performed on the two groups of patients, and compared with preoperative ones; knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score-physical function short form (KOOS-PS), short-form 36 health survey scale (SF-36 scale), and forgotten joint score (FJS) were also performed. At 2 years after operation, the total score of WOMAC, the clinical and function scores of KSS in the two groups significantly improved when compared with preoperative ones ( P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in the total score of WOMAC, the individual score of WOMAC, the clinical and function scores of KSS between the two groups ( P>0.05). The total KOOS-PS score in the UKA group was significantly lower than that in the TKA group ( t=4.243, P=0.000), and the scores of writhing/knee rotation, kneeling, and squatting in the UKA group were significantly lower than those in the TKA group ( P<0.05). The total FJS score in the UKA group was significantly higher than that in the TKA group ( t=-6.334, P=0.000). In the UKA group, the scores of 7 items were significantly lower than those of the TKA group ( P<0.05) including when walking over 15 minutes, when climbing stairs, when walking on uneven ground, when standing for long periods, when doing housework or gardening, when taking a walk or hiking, and when doing your favorite sport. The SF-36 scales of physiological function, energy, social function, emotional function, and mental health in the UKA group were significantly higher than those in the TKA group ( P<0.05). Compared with TKA, patients treated with UKA may have better knee function recovery, joint amnesia, and higher quality of life.

Tolerance of uncertainty as a determinant of educators' psychological health in conditions of social tension

Introduction. Social instability increases the importance of tolerance of uncertainty among representatives of different social and professional groups. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, educators' tolerance of uncertainty as a probable determinant of their psychological health is of particular interest for researchers. Aim: to study tolerance of uncertainty as a determinant of educational staff's psychological health in conditions of social tension. Methods: D. McLain's MSTAT-II (adapted by E.M. Osin), T. Galkina &amp; N. Artemtseva's Attitude to Psychological Health Scale, Scale of Positive Mental Health by J. Lukat et al., and Locus of Health Control questionnaire. Results. It was found that the most pronounced components of tolerance of uncertainty were the attitude to novelty and preference of uncertainty. Uncertainty tolerance components affected most aspects of educators' psychological health. Conclusion. Tolerance of uncertainty should be seen as a determinant of educators' psychological health.

Structural empowerment and mental health in healthcare professionals: The role of civility

Quality of the work environment is a factor that promotes workers’ mental health and it’s a present concern for the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. There is a need to understand the factors that can promote better mental health at work and under which circumstances structural empowerment represents a working environment that allows workers’ development, low rates of incivility and positive effects on mental health. The present study aims to verify in which conditions structural empowerment has a positive effect on workers’ mental health, through the mediating role of civility. To that purpose, we have applied the Portuguese versions of WCS, CWEQ-II and the mental health scale from MOS SF-36v2 to a sample of 303 health care professionals in a public-private hospital located in the Greater Lisbon. The results of this study reveal that structural empowerment has a direct positive effect both on workers’ mental health and on workplace civility. However, the indirect effect of structural empowerment on mental health through civility is only effective for health professionals with longer tenure.

Supplemental Material for Positive Mental Health Scale: Validation and Measurement Invariance Across Eight Countries, Genders, and Age Groups

Supplemental Material for Positive Mental Health Scale: Validation and Measurement Invariance Across Eight Countries, Genders, and Age Groups

The effect of vitamin D supplementation on tobacco-related disorders in individuals with a tobacco use disorder: a randomized clinical trial

Vitamin D deficiency in cigarette smokers (CS) might associate with several complications, including metabolic deficits, depression and anxiety. This study evaluated the effects of vitamin D on mental health symptoms, nicotine misuse, and biomarkers of metabolic diseases in individuals with a tobacco use disorder. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted with 60 CS subjects receiving either 50,000 IU vitamin D supplements (n = 30) or placebo (n = 30) every 2 weeks for 24-weeks. Nicotine misuse, mental health scale, and metabolic parameters were measured before and after the intervention in the CS subjects. Compared with the placebo-group, after the 24-weeks intervention, serum 25 (OH) vitamin D levels increased in the intervention group (β 2.96; 95% CI, 0.91, 5.01; P = 0.006). In addition, vitamin D supplementation significantly improved Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (β −2.06; 95% CI, −3.84, −0.28; P = 0.02). In addition, vitamin D administration significantly decreased fasting plasma glucose (FPG) (β −4.56; 95% CI, −8.94, −0.19; P = 0.04), insulin (β −0.50; 95% CI, −0.88, −0.13; P = 0.009), and homeostasis model of assessment-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) levels (β −0.21; 95% CI, −0.33, −0.08; P = 0.001). Furthermore, vitamin D resulted in a significant elevation in total antioxidant capacity (TAC) (β 81.20; 95% CI, 18.30, 144.11; P = 0.01), and plasma glutathione (GSH) levels (β 73.05; 95% CI, 18.56, 127.54; P = 0.01), compared with the placebo-group. Administration of vitamin D for 24-weeks to CS subjects had beneficial effects on symptoms of depression and several metabolic biomarkers. While this preliminary study suggests that vitamin D might have beneficial effects, its clinical efficacy in individuals with a tobacco use disorder should be further validated in future clinical trials.

Tetrahydrocannabinol fails to reduce hair pulling or skin picking: results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of dronabinol.

Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) such as trichotillomania and skin picking disorder are associated with decreased self-esteem and poor quality of life. The objective of this study was to evaluate dronabinol, a cannabinoid agonist, for the reduction of BFRB symptoms. Fifty adults with either trichotillomania (n = 34) or skin picking disorder (n = 16) were recruited for a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Participants received 10-week treatment with dronabinol (5-15 mg/day) or placebo. The primary efficacy outcome measure was the change on the clinician-rated National Institute of Mental Health scale for hair pulling or skin picking. Both dronabinol and placebo treatment were associated with significant reductions in BFRB symptoms. Dronabinol did not significantly separate from placebo on any efficacy measure. At week 10, 67% of the treatment group were classified as responders (Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement Score of very much or much improved) compared to 50% in the placebo group (P value = 0.459). This study assessed the efficacy of dronabinol, a synthetic form of tetrahydrocannabinol, in the treatment of BFRBs, and found no differences in symptom reductions between dronabinol and placebo.

Implementation Outcome Scales for Digital Mental Health (iOSDMH): Scale Development and Cross-sectional Study.

BackgroundDigital mental health interventions are being used more than ever for the prevention and treatment of psychological problems. Optimizing the implementation aspects of digital mental health is essential to deliver the program to populations in need, but there is a lack of validated implementation outcome measures for digital mental health interventions.ObjectiveThe primary aim of this study is to develop implementation outcome scales of digital mental health for different levels of stakeholders involved in the implementation process: users, providers, and managers or policy makers. The secondary aim is to validate the developed scale for users.MethodsWe developed English and Japanese versions of the implementation outcome scales for digital mental health (iOSDMH) based on the literature review and panel discussions with experts in implementation research and web-based psychotherapy. The study developed acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, satisfaction, and harm as the outcome measures for users, providers, and managers or policy makers. We conducted evidence-based interventions via the internet using UTSMeD, a website for mental health information (N=200). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to assess the structural validity of the iOSDMH for users. Satisfaction, which consisted of a single item, was not included in the EFA.ResultsThe iOSDMH was developed for users, providers, and managers or policy makers. The iOSDMH contains 19 items for users, 11 items for providers, and 14 items for managers or policy makers. Cronbach α coefficients indicated intermediate internal consistency for acceptability (α=.665) but high consistency for appropriateness (α=.776), feasibility (α=.832), and harm (α=.777) of the iOSDMH for users. EFA revealed 3-factor structures, indicating acceptability and appropriateness as close concepts. Despite the similarity between these 2 concepts, we inferred that acceptability and appropriateness should be used as different factors, following previous studies.ConclusionsWe developed iOSDMH for users, providers, and managers. Psychometric assessment of the scales for users demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity. Evaluating the components of digital mental health implementation is a major step forward in implementation science.

Development and Psychometric Testing of the Mental Health Scale for Childrearing Fathers.

The mental health of fathers influences the development of children and the functioning of families significantly. However, there is no useful scale for the mental health screening of childrearing fathers. This study developed a Mental Health Scale for Childrearing Fathers (MSCF) and determined its reliability and validity. Childrearing fathers are working fathers who co-parent with their spouses. This survey was conducted in two stages: a pilot study and a main survey. Data were obtained from 98 fathers raising preschoolers in the pilot study and 306 fathers in the main survey. The collected data were used to confirm the construct validity, criterion-related validity, convergent validity, and internal consistency reliability. The final MSCF consisted of 25 items comprising four factors: peaceful familial connection, healthy mind and body, satisfying paternal alliances, and leading a meaningful life as a parent. The internal consistency reliability estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the total scale was 0.918. The validity of the MSCF was logically secured using a confirmatory factor analysis. The MSCF can be an effective tool for mental health screening among fathers in relation to the burden of childrearing during regular infant health checks.

Development and psychometric properties of the Knowledge and Attitudes to Mental Health Scales (KAMHS): a psychometric measure of mental health literacy in children and adolescents

BackgroundAdolescence is a crucial period for the acquisition of good mental health behaviours, which are the foundation for health and wellbeing in later life. Improved knowledge about mental health and improved help-seeking behaviours have been shown to lead to better mental health outcomes. Mental health literacy (MHL) is multifaceted (e.g., knowledge about symptoms, the stigma around mental health, good mental health practices, etc.). Measures are needed that can assess these different aspects of MHL. Measurement of mental health literacy is currently limited due to a lack of reported psychometric instruments with known psychometric properties. Given that most mental health problems start in early adolescence, a scale is needed that is reliable and valid in this age group.MethodsThe development and validation of the psychometric instrument (termed the Knowledge and Attitudes to Mental Health Scales: KAMHS) entailed two phases: 1) item generation based on an evidence-based intervention programme: The Guide; and 2) item reduction through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for factor structure and psychometric assessment. Participants were 559 Year 9 pupils in secondary schools across Wales aged between 13 and 14 years.ResultsResults from the CFA indicated an acceptable fit of the model to the data. The KAMHS showed good internal constancy and moderate test-retest validity (.40–.64).ConclusionsThe final version of the KAMHS contains 50 items that are appropriate for use in children and adolescents. These results suggest that the KAMHS can be used over time to assess the efficacy of interventions aimed at increasing the mental health literacy of adolescent populations.

Concussion among female athletes in Iceland: Stress, depression, anxiety, and quality of life

The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between self-reported concussion history and stress, depression, anxiety, and quality of life among Icelandic female athletes. Participants were 508 Icelandic female athletes, aged 18–45 (M = 26.99, SD = 7.14), that had, or were currently training and competing in the two top leagues in basketball, soccer, and handball, in the top league in ice-hockey and national tournaments in mixed martial arts, taekwondo, karate, and boxing. Participants completed an online questionnaire regarding their age, sport, and concussion history before answering standard mental health scales concerning stress (PSS), depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), and quality of life (QOLS). Female athletes reporting a history of concussions scored higher on PSS, PHQ-9, and GAD-7 than those reporting no history of concussion. Scores on the QOLS were not significantly different between the groups. Female athletes that had sustained a concussion were 3.48 to 4.85 times more likely (depending on the number of concussions) to score above the clinical cut-off on PHQ-9 than those that had not sustained a concussion. Athletes that reported 2–3 or ≥ 4 concussions were 3.52 and 3.40 times more likely to score above the clinical cut-off on GAD-7, respectively. Results indicate that Icelandic female athletes with a history of concussion report more symptoms of distress than those with no history of concussion, and the higher number of concussions sustained, the worse they feel.

A Research on the Study of Mental Health, Self-Esteem and Achievement Goals

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships among mental health, self-esteem, and achievement goals variables in health management students. Another aim of the study is to determine whether self-esteem has a moderating role in the effect of mental health on achievement goals. The universe of the study consists of students studying in the health management department of a university. No sample selection was made in the study and data were obtained from 386 students. As a result of the analysis, the mean score of the answers given by the students to the mental health scale was 2.64; the mean score of their answers to the achievement goals scale was 3.86, and the mean score of their answers to the self-esteem scale was 3.26. According to the results of the regression analysis performed in the study, it has been determined that perceived mental health explains 13.8% of the total variance on achievement goals, perceived self-esteem explains 14.9% of the total variance on achievement goals, and perceived mental health explains 9.3% of the total variance on self-esteem. In addition, the study found that self-esteem has a moderating role in the relationship between mental health and achievement goals.

Ethnicity matters in perceived impacts and information sources of COVID-19 among mothers with young children in Australia: a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate perceived impacts, ways of communication with professionals and information sources related to COVID-19, and explore whether these impacts or information sources were associated with ethnicity...

Correlation between telomere length and efficacy of oral and long-acting injectable antipsychotics on severity and cognitive impairment of schizophrenia

Objective To study the correlation between telomere length (TL) and long-acting injectable (LAI) and oral atypical antipsychotic (OAA) efficacy on schizophrenia (SCZ) severity and cognitive impairment. Methods Sixty Schizophrenia patients of 18–50 years and of either sex were included in a 12-week study. Thirty patients were recruited in each group, LAI and OAA. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) neuropsychological battery tests were evaluated at baseline and 12 weeks. TL was estimated at baseline. Results Both groups showed a significant improvement in PANSS and NIMHANS battery test scores after treatment (p < 0.001) within the group, though not between the groups. Mean TL at baseline was 407.58 ± 143.93 and 443.40 ± 178.46 in LAI and OAA groups respectively. A significant negative correlation (r = −0.28, p = 0.03) of TL was seen with the mean change in negative PANSS score after treatment. Conclusions LAI antipsychotics are similar to OAA in decreasing the disorder severity and improving the cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Also, patients who have shorter TL show greater improvement in the negative PANSS score. Hence, TL holds the potential of predicting antipsychotic drug response in schizophrenia patients. KEY POINTS Long-acting injectable antipsychotic was comparable to oral atypical antipsychotics in bringing out improvement in disorder severity, cognitive functions over 12 weeks. Shorter telomere length has been found to be associated with a greater response in negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Dynamics of quality of life indicators in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease comorbid with connective tissue dysplasia under the influence of complex treatment

Introduction. In the case of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) on the background of undifferentiated connective tissue dysplasia (UCTD) causes an even more significant deterioration in the QOL, including sleep disturbances and the onset of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). Thus, the study of the peculiarities of GERD on the background of connective tissue dysplasia and determining the impact of comorbid pathology on the QOL of patients with GERD is a topical issue in internal medicine. It has significant socio-economic significance. We believe that monitoring the most important variables that affect the quality of life of patients with GERD can help raise public awareness in this regard. In addition, it can guide the health care system to address these issues.&#x0D; Purpose. The purpose of the work is to increase the awareness of medical workers about the scale of the problem and ways to solve it. to study the features of the dynamics of quality of life in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease comorbid with connective tissue dysplasia under the influence of the proposed complex therapy.&#x0D; Methodology. 120 patients were included: 65 men and 55 women. In 75 of them (Study Group) GERD was in the background of UCTD, in 45 (?omparison Group ) - developed as an independent disease. The Study Group was divided into three groups. ?omparison Group - 45 patients with GERD without UCTD, received basic standard therapy, which included PPI "Panocid" 40 mg once a day and alginate-antacid formulation (Gaviscon Double Action Liquid) 20 ml, 3 times per day after meals and before bedtime. I Group - 25 patients with GERD +UCTD, which to the standard basic therapy was added "Magne-B6" for 2 tablets 3 times per day. II Group - 25 patients with GERD +UCTD, which to the standard basic therapy was added "Calcium-D3 Nicomed" 1 tablet 3 times per day. III Group - 25 patients with GERD +UCTD, who used the drug "Magne-B6" 2 tablets 3 times per day and "Calcium-D3 Nicomed" 1 tablet 3 times per day on the background of standard basic therapy. The Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Status (SF-36), the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS), and the scale of "Personal and social performance" (PSP) - were used to study patients in detail. A comprehensive examination of patients was performed twice: before and after 30 days of comprehensive treatment.&#x0D; Results and Discussion. Under the influence of the basic therapy in Comparison Group the General Health (GH) improved by 33.03%. While in the groups on the background of complex treatment is increased by 42.52% in patients of the I Group, by 13.10% in patients of the II Group, and 46.28% in patients of the III Group (p1, p2, p3 &lt;0.05).Physical Functiong Scale (PF) improved by 17.9% in patients of the Comparison Group (p &lt;0.05) and by 30.38%; 27.47%, 29.17%, respectively (p1, p2, p3 &lt;0.05). Role Physical Scale (RP) scores improved by 25.14% in Comparison Group (p &lt;0.05) and by 33.6 %, 22.58% and 40.20% respectively (p1, p2, p3 &lt;0.05). Dynamics of data in Body Pain (BP) scale improved by 21.84% in patients of the Comparison Group (p &lt;0.05) and by 37.28%, 25.46%, 35.92% (p1, p2, p3 &lt;0.05).As can be seen from it, under the influence of complex therapy, the values of the Vitality (VT) increased by 17.18% in patients of Group I, by 21.93% – in Group II, by 37.87%– in Group III (p1, p2, p3 &lt;0.05). Among patients of the Comparison Group, the influx of strength and energy felt 9.50% (p &lt;0.05). Data of Social Functioning Scale (SF) improved by 8.8% in patients of the Comparison Group (p &lt;0 , 05) and by 22.7%, 29.6%, 29.31%, respectively(p1, p2, p3 &lt;0.05). Mental Health Scale (MH) improved by 17.23% in patients of Group I, by 22.41% – in Group II, by 21.96% – in Group III (p1, p2, p3 &lt;0.05) and 14.22% - in the Comparison Group (p &lt;0.05). Also in patients were positive dynamics of the Role Emotional functioning scale (RE): by 27.37% in patients of Group I, by 12.36%– in Group II, by 15.7% – in the Group III (p1, p2, p3 &lt;0.05) and 9.05% - in patients of the Comparison Group (p &lt; 0.05).&#x0D; Conclusions. Thus, the inclusion in the standard therapy of gastroesophageal reflux disease in patients with its development on the background of undifferentiated connective tissue dysplasia of magnesium lactate dihydrate in combination with pyridoxine hydrochloride ("Magne -B6 ") and calcium carbonate in combination with cholecalciferol ("Calcium-D3 Nicomed") contributed to a significant improvement in their quality of life

Mental health burden and self-efficacy among undergraduate students in the health sciences

Abstract Perceived professional competence and self-efficacy are complex terms, which have been widely identified in concurrent literature as predictive criteria of future development and settlement of higher education students. The current study aimed at exploring factors affecting perceived professional competence and self-efficacy of Social Work and Nursing students of the Hellenic Mediterranean University. The study employed a sample of 313 students (171 Social Work, 142 Nursing). The questionnaire explored participants' sociodemographic and academic factors, perceived professional competence and self-efficacy (Nursing Competency Self Efficacy (NCSE) Scale for Outgoing Nursing Students), mental health symptoms during the past month (Symptom Checklist List, SCL 90-R) and life stressors during the past year (Life Stress Inventory, LSI). A total of 67.3% of the participants reported life stressors during the past year, with 17.6% reporting the highest burden. All the mental health scales of SCL-90 were found to have a negative linear relationship with perceived professional competence and self-efficacy but no relationship was detected with regard to life stressors. Participants' age, working status, subject and year of studies, as well as prior knowledge and high preference of the study subject, were shown to be significantly related with perceived professional competence and self-efficacy. The study has several implications for the educational and the health policy. Key messages Mental illness is a major public health concern with significant impact on students’ academic achievement. University-based mental health services could reach students in need and facilitate early intervention.

Natural language processing for cognitive therapy: Extracting schemas from thought records

The cognitive approach to psychotherapy aims to change patients' maladaptive schemas, that is, overly negative views on themselves, the world, or the future. To obtain awareness of these views, they record their thought processes in situations that caused pathogenic emotional responses. The schemas underlying such thought records have, thus far, been largely manually identified. Using recent advances in natural language processing, we take this one step further by automatically extracting schemas from thought records. To this end, we asked 320 healthy participants on Amazon Mechanical Turk to each complete five thought records consisting of several utterances reflecting cognitive processes. Agreement between two raters on manually scoring the utterances with respect to how much they reflect each schema was substantial (Cohen's κ = 0.79). Natural language processing software pretrained on all English Wikipedia articles from 2014 (GLoVE embeddings) was used to represent words and utterances, which were then mapped to schemas using k-nearest neighbors algorithms, support vector machines, and recurrent neural networks. For the more frequently occurring schemas, all algorithms were able to leverage linguistic patterns. For example, the scores assigned to the Competence schema by the algorithms correlated with the manually assigned scores with Spearman correlations ranging between 0.64 and 0.76. For six of the nine schemas, a set of recurrent neural networks trained separately for each of the schemas outperformed the other algorithms. We present our results here as a benchmark solution, since we conducted this research to explore the possibility of automatically processing qualitative mental health data and did not aim to achieve optimal performance with any of the explored models. The dataset of 1600 thought records comprising 5747 utterances is published together with this article for researchers and machine learning enthusiasts to improve upon our outcomes. Based on our promising results, we see further opportunities for using free-text input and subsequent natural language processing in other common therapeutic tools, such as ecological momentary assessments, automated case conceptualizations, and, more generally, as an alternative to mental health scales.

SF-12 Physical and Mental Health Scales predict cardiovascular events after hospitalization

Abstract Self perceived physical and mental health are easily scored by validated SF-12 questionnaires (a short form of SF-36). Depression can be also scored by HAD scale. We analysed its usefulness to predict death or cardiovascular events after hospitalization. Methods 69 consecutive patients (median age 75 (95% CI 33.1–88.9) admitted from a cardiovascular cause performed the SF-12 Physical (PSF) and Mental Health (MSF) questionnaires, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) before hospital discharge. Charlson's Comorbidity index and Barthel's modified index for Physical Incapacity were also performed and results adjusted by them and clinical issues (cardiovascular diagnosis, ventricular function, age) and social status. Median follow-up was 506 days (95% CI 490–542). Cox-regression univariate analysis was performed, and data were adjusted by multivariate analysis. Results 23 patients (33,3%) experienced an event during follow-up (a compound of death, acute coronary syndrome, heart failure, and need for readmission). 85.5% of patients showed a physical SF-12 under poblational mean (PSF 34.55; CI 14.34–55.41), and 59.4% of patients showed a diminished mental SF-12 (MSP 45.69; CI 21.94–66.83). After adjusting by atrial fibrillation (p=0.21), ventricular disfunction (p=0.14), Charlson's index (p=0.013), Barthel's modified index (p=0.035), and age (p=0.013), both mental SF12 (HR 0.93; CI 0.88–0.98; p=0.004) and Physical SF-12 scales (HR 0.935; CI 0.87–0.98; p=0.0.023), together with HAD depression score (HR 0.85; CI 0.75–0.96; p=0.009) were predictors of new cardiovascular events. Conclusions Self perceived physical and mental health scales before hospital discharge predict new clinical cardiovascular events during follow-up. Short form questionnaires (SF-12) and HAD scale are easily performed and can be used for selecting high risk patients beyond clinical characteristics. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None. Physical SF12 and Event Free Survival

Sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with depression, anxiety, and general mental health in people with multiple sclerosis during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background People with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) may be at increased risk for psychological distress during COVID-19. We study the self-reported mental health of U.S. PwMS during COVID-19, prior to vaccine rollout.Methods A cross-sectional survey was distributed online to PwMS through iConquerMS (12/18/2020–02/10/2021). Depressive and anxiety symptom burdens and general mental health status were measured via the Patient-Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and PROMIS Global Mental Health scales. Linear regression models assessed associations between mental health variables and age, sex, disability status, comorbidities, and social determinants of health.Results Of 610 U.S. PwMS (mean age 56 years, standard deviation 11, range 20–85; female, 81%; relapsing remitting disease, 62%; previous depression diagnosis, 40%), the prevalences of moderate-to-severe depressive and anxiety symptom burden were 27.4% and 14.7%, respectively; 55.1% endorsed fair/poor general mental health. PwMS who tested positive for COVID-19 (n = 47, 7.7%) reported higher depressive and anxiety symptom burdens (p < 0.05). Increased disability status score and social determinants of health were each associated with more depressive symptoms and worse general mental health. Younger age was associated with increased depressive and anxiety symptom burdens and worse general mental health. Female sex was associated with greater anxiety symptoms.Conclusion There are specific associations for worse mental health among PwMS during COVID-19 that reflect a combination of clinical, demographic, and social determinants of health. Multidisciplinary care teams and vigilance are important to address the ongoing mental health impacts of COVID-19 in PwMS.

Latent profile analysis of mental health among Chinese healthcare staff during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The mental health of individuals has become increasingly important during the novel coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Given the number of healthcare staff that are helping to treat the victims of COVID-19 all over the world, there is a lack of research concerning the mental health of healthcare staff, and of the prior studies carried out, the research has been relatively descriptive and has not used more sophisticated types of analyses (e.g. latent profile analysis [LPA]). The aim of the present study was to investigate profiles of mental health among Chinese healthcare staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample comprised of 456 healthcare staff, and participants completed an online survey including individual information and their working status during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey included the Chinese Mental Health Scale (MHS-C), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). Utilizing the LPA, two profiles of mental health (good mental health and poor mental health) were identified for Chinese healthcare staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to those with a good mental health profile, those with poor mental health profile had significantly higher scores on SAS and SDS. Female healthcare staff had higher mental health disturbances than males. Taking care and protecting the mental health of healthcare staff is very important in the fight against COVID-19. The need for employers to implement positive and effective measures among mental healthcare staff is likely to help them to cope better with mental health issues and improve mental health, as well as enhance resilience. Healthcare staff with good mental health can dedicate themselves to better nursing practice and nursing education during the COVID-19 epidemic.