Fathers as informants of children’s fears and worries

The recognition of excessive fears and worries in children is important for early intervention. Despite current knowledge about the important contribution fathers make to their children’s emotional, social and cognitive development, more emphasis is often given to the views of mothers in both research and practice. This paper reports on a community study of 220 families. Fathers, mothers and children reported on children’s fears and worries using three different methods. While father and mother ratings were moderately correlated on two of the measures, there was relatively poor parent-child agreement. Implications for the role of fathers in the assessment of childhood fears and worries are discussed.

The experience of being a peer outreach volunteer: Benefits and challenges

Peer outreach is an emerging form of non-professional consumer-delivered service in the context of psychiatric rehabilitation. This study identified the benefits and challenges of outreach provision as identified by a group of volunteer outreach workers. One on one semi-structured interviews were carried out with twelve members trained as peer outreach volunteers. Interview transcripts were analysed using a consensual qualitative research approach. Outreach workers typically experienced peer outreach as a positive experience both for themselves and for the recipients. Most found the training and support provided to be appropriate and sufficient. Nonetheless, peer outreach workers did encounter difficulties and sometimes felt need for more training and support. The findings have implications for the development of future peer outreach programs. There is scope for enhanced training and/or supervision and a need for further research to investigate ways to optimise peer outreach.

Educational stress among Chinese adolescents : measurement, risk factors and associations with mental health

Academic pressure among adolescents is a major risk factor for poor mental health and suicide and other harmful behaviours. While this is a worldwide phenomenon, it appears to be especially pronounced in China and other East Asian countries. Despite a growing body of research into adolescent mental health in recent years, the multiple constructs within the ‘educational stress’ phenomenon have not been clearly articulated in Chinese contexts. Further, the individual, family, school and peer influencing factors for educational stress and its associations with adolescent mental health are not well understood. An in-depth investigation may provide important information for the ongoing educational reform in Mainland China with a special focus on students’ mental health and wellbeing. The primary goal of this study was to examine the relative contribution of educational stress to poor mental health, in comparison to other well-known individual, family, school and peer factors. Another important task was to identify significant risk factors for educational stress. In addition, due to the lack of a culturally suitable instrument for educational stress in this population, a new tool – the Educational Stress Scale for Adolescents (ESSA) was initially developed in this study and tested for reliability and validity. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from convenient samples of secondary school students in Shandong, China. The pilot survey was conducted with 347 students (grades 8 and 11) to test the psychometric properties of the ESSA and other scales or questions in the questionnaire. Based on factor analysis and reliability and validity testing, the 16-item scale (the ESSA) with five factors showed adequate to good internal consistency, 2-week test-retest reliability, and satisfactory concurrent and predictive validity. Its factor structure was further demonstrated in the main survey with a confirmatory factor analysis illustrating a good fit of the proposed model based on a confirmatory factor analysis. The reliabilities of other scales and questions were also adequate to be used in this study. The main survey was subsequently conducted with a sample of 1627 secondary school (grades 7-12) students to examine the influencing factors of educational stress and its associations with mental health outcomes, including depression, happiness and suicidal behaviours. A wide range of individual, family, school and peer factors were found to have a significant association with the total ESSA and subscale scores. Most of the strong factors for academic stress were school or study-related, including rural school location, low school connectedness, perceived poor academic grades and frequent emotional conflicts with teachers and peers. Unexpectedly, family and parental factors, such as parental bonding, family connectedness and conflicts with parents were found to have little or no association with educational stress. Educational stress was the most predictive variable for depression, but was not strongly associated with happiness. It had a strong association with suicide ideation but not with suicide attempts. Among five subscales of the ESSA, ‘Study despondency’ score had the strongest associations with these mental health measures. Surprising, two subscales, ‘Self-expectation’ and ‘Worry about grades’ showed a protective effect on suicidal behaviours. An additional analysis revealed that although academic pressure was the most commonly reported reason for suicidal thinking, the occurrence of problems in peer relationships such as peer teasing and bullying, and romantic problems had a much stronger relationship with actual attempts. This study provides some insights into the nature and health implications of educational stress among Chinese adolescents. Findings in this study suggest that interventions on educational stress should focus on school environment and academic factors. Intervention programs focused on educational stress may have a high impact on the prevalence of common mental disorders such as depression. Efforts to increase perceived happiness however should cover a wider range of individual, family and school factors. The importance of healthy peer relationships should be adequately emphasised in suicide prevention. In addition, the newly developed scale (the ESSA) demonstrates sound psychometric properties and is expected to be used in future research into academic-related stress among secondary school adolescents.

Making sense of mental illness as a full human experience : Perspective of illness and recovery held by people with a mental illness living in the community.

Recovery is a highly contextualized concept amid divergent interpretations and unique experiences. There is substantial current interest in building evidence about recovery from mental illness in order to inform best practice founded in the ways people find to live productive and meaningful lives. This paper presents some accounts related to recovery and illness expressed by eight people through a Participatory Action Research project. The research facilitated entry to the subjective experiences of living in the community as an artist with a mental illness. The people in the research shared an integrated understanding of illness, recovery and identity. Their understanding provided insight into mental illness as an inseparable aspect of who they were. Further, specific issue was raised of recovery as a clinical term with a requirement to meet distinct conventions of recovery. This paper emphasizes that being ill and being well, for the person with a mental illness, is a dynamic and complex development not easily explained or transformed into uniform process or outcomes. Attempts to establish an integral or consensual approach to recovery has, to date, disregarded mental illness as a full human experience. This paper argues that broader frameworks for thinking and responding to the dynamic processes of mental illness and recovery are needed and require acknowledgment of competing and contradictory ideas.

PP39 Mental health outcomes of abortion for young women aged 18-23 years, findings from an Australian longitudinal birth cohort study

Background: Few longitudinal studies have examined the mental health outcomes of women after abortion and the results are controversial. Despite falling birth rates, teenage pregnancies remain high and over half (53%) of teenage and a third (36%) of young adult (20_24 years) pregnancies are aborted. Recent findings from a NewZealand longitudinal birth cohort linked abortion and subsequent psychiatric disorders in young women. Limited Australian data is available examining this association. Methods: Data were taken from the Mater-University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP). Running since 1981, this is a prospective birth cohort study of 7223 mothers and children. At the 21-year follow-up 3775 (52.3% of the original cohort) participants were surveyed, of these 1132 young women had complete data on pregnancy outcomes and psychiatric diagnoses from a structured interview. Binary logistic regression examined the association between five lifetime psychiatric disorders (nicotine, alcohol, cannabis, affective and anxiety disorders) and ever having an abortion or birth. Analyses adjusted for age, concurrent and maternal sociodemographic factors, and factors related to adolescent behaviour, previous mental health and family functioning. Results: A quarter of the young women (n_261) reported at least one pregnancy and 32.6% had an abortion. Abortion was significantly associated with age-adjusted OR for all the lifetime disorders. After full adjustment abortion remained significantly associated with nicotine (OR_2.1, 1.2_3.6) and alcohol disorders (OR_2.0, 1.3_3.3). Conclusion: The findings suggest that abortion in young women is independently associated with an increased risk of nicotine and alcohol disorders.

Design and ethics in digital mental health promotion

This chapter presents a case study of Participatory Design as a design framework for developing interactive digital tools for promoting children’s resilience. The author argues for a participatory methodology as an ethical approach that involves children as co-designers in the process from which they are traditionally excluded, namely the creative design process and the process of mental health promotion.

Investigating well-being and mental health in Queensland fire-fighters

This thesis used survey and interview methods to examine how organisational and interpersonal factors impact on the mental health of fire and rescue workers. It was the first published research to assess and predict multiple indicators of mental health; psychological distress, well-being, posttraumatic growth and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. The results provide valuable information for supporting fire and rescue workers through psychoeducation and proactive intervention programs.

Shortages of rural mental health professionals

This study presents a conceptual model of the supply and demand for mental health professionals. It uses national data to profile differences in the supply of mental health professionals in different types of rural and urban areas. It contrasts the availability of general health and mental health professionals. It examines shortage areas identified in 2000 and their related community characteristics. Because of the absence of data on a national level to describe many types of mental health professionals state licensure data for one state were used to show the volume and distribution of these practitioners. To improve rural mental health service delivery it will be necessary to implement system changes to promote the increased availability, competency, and support of rural health professionals. Copyright 2003, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

A New Start? : Implications of Work for the Dole on Mental Health of Unemployed Young Australians

This paper summarises literature on unemployment, mental health and Work for the Dole programs. Australian and international evidence suggests that unemployed young people are more likely to experience mental health problems than employed people (e.g. greater anxiety and depression, higher suicide rates). Drawing on research undertaken in Australia and overseas we identify a link between mental health and unemployment. However, there is a lack of firm evidence with respect to the impact of Work for the Dole programs on the mental health of unemployed young Australians. There is the possibility that with the Australian Government's proposed expansion of the program any benefits of Work for the Dole on mental health of young unemployed people could be diminished or lost. There is a clear need for more research in this area.

Study burden, academic stress and mental health among high school students in Vietnam

Pressure on children to succeed in high schools is a serious problem in Asian societies. The focus of this study in three provinces of Vietnam was to identify the thresholds at which supplementary study has positive or negative effects on mental health and academic achievement. The findings contribute evidence for parents, teachers and young people about optimal levels of supplementary study (2–3 hours per day) and the most beneficial mode (self-study versus cram classes and private tutors). The work will be used to inform policy makers about strategies to minimize harmful effects of study burden for high school students.

Gaming well: Links between videogames and flourishing mental health

This paper is a review of the state of play of research linking videogaming and flourishing, and explores the role of videogames and technology to improve mental health and well-being. Its purpose is to develop understandings about the positive intersection of gaming and well-being, to document evidence regarding links between videogames and positive mental health, and to provide guidelines for use by other researchers as they design and use tools and games to improve mental health and well-being. Using Huppert's (Huppert and So, 2013) proposition that to flourish is more than the absence of mental disorder but rather a combination of feeling good and functioning effectively, resulting in high levels of mental well-being, and Seligman's (Seligman, 2011) PERMA theory of well-being, the paper identifies strengths in existing games that generate positive affect, positive functioning, and positive social functioning, contributing to, and supporting mental health and well-being.

Cultural safety, diversity and the servicer user and carer movement in mental health research

This study will be of interest to anyone concerned with a critical appraisal of mental health service users’ and carers’ participation in research collaboration and with the potential of the postcolonial paradigm of cultural safety to contribute to the service user research (SUR) movement. The history and nature of the mental health field and its relationship to colonial processes provokes a consideration of whether cultural safety could focus attention on diversity, power imbalance, cultural dominance and structural inequality, identified as barriers and tensions in SUR. We consider these issues in the context of state-driven approaches towards SUR in planning and evaluation and the concurrent rise of the SUR movement in the UK and Australia, societies with an intimate involvement in processes of colonisation. We consider the principles and motivations underlying cultural safety and SUR in the context of the policy agenda informing SUR. We conclude that while both cultural safety and SUR are underpinned by social constructionism constituting similarities in principles and intent, cultural safety has additional dimensions. Hence, we call on researchers to use the explicitly political and self-reflective process of cultural safety to think about and address issues of diversity, power and social justice in research collaboration.

Émile Durkheim and Thomas Luckmann: Religion, spirituality and mental health

This chapter examines connections between religion, spirituality and mental health. Religion and spirituality influence the way people conceive themselves, others and the world around them, as well as how they behave – and are strongly associated with numerous mental health outcomes. Religion and spirituality therefore demand the attention of those who seek a comprehensive understanding of the factors that affect mental health. Mental health professionals are increasingly being asked to consider their clients’ religious and/or spiritual beliefs when devising their treatment plans, making the study of religion and spirituality an essential area of learning for those working in the mental health field. Initial discussion in this chapter will focus on the different approaches taken by sociologists in studying mental health. Emile Durkheim, one of the founders of sociology, proposed that religion was fundamental to societal wellbeing and was the first to demonstrate a link between religion and mental health at a population level in the late 19th century. Durkheim’s classic theory of religion, together with the work of Thomas Luckmann and other contemporary social theorists who have sought to explain widespread religious change in Western countries since World War II will be examined. Two key changes during this period are the shift away from mainstream Christian religions and the widespread embracing of ‘spirituality’ as an alternative form of religious expression. In combination, the theories of Durkheim, Luckmann and other sociologists provide a platform from which to consider reasons for variations in rates of mental health problems observed in contemporary Western societies according to people’s religious/spiritual orientation. This analysis demonstrates the relevance of both classic and contemporary sociological theories to issues confronting societies in the present day.