Background: In China, mental health services do not currently meet the needs of bereaved people with symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Internet-based grief interventions may help fill this gap, but such programmes have not yet been developed or evaluated in China. The proposed study aims to investigate the effectiveness, acceptability, and feasibility of an online self-help intervention programme named Healing Grief for bereaved Chinese with prolonged grief, and to explore the psychological mechanisms of potential improvements.Methods: We designed a two-arm randomised controlled trial. At least 128 participants will be randomly assigned to either an Internet-based intervention group or a waitlist-control group. The Internet-based intervention will be developed based on the dual process model, integrating techniques of psychoeducation, behavioural activation, cognitive reappraisal, and meaning reconstruction, and will be delivered via expressive writing. The intervention comprises six modules, with two sessions in each module, and requires participants to complete two sessions per week and complete the intervention in 6 weeks. The primary outcomes include effectiveness, acceptability, and feasibility. The effectiveness will be assessed by measures of prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Acceptability and feasibility will be evaluated using survey and interview on user experience characteristics. Secondary outcomes include moderators and mediators, such as dual process coping, grief rumination, mindfulness, and continuing bond, to explore the psychological mechanisms of potential improvement. Assessments will take place at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up.Conclusion: The proposed study will determine the effectiveness, acceptability, and feasibility of the newly developed online self-help intervention for bereaved Chinese with prolonged grief and clarify how the intervention helps with symptom improvements. Such an intervention may play an important role in easing the imbalance between the delivery and receipt of bereavement psychological services in China.
Background: The words people use in everyday life tell us about their emotions, their mental state and allow us to understand how people process and interpret an event. Previous research has established a link between the content analysis of narrative texts and the psychopathology of people who have experienced trauma.Objectives: This study examines whether the development of PTSD following exposure to a previous traumatic event alters the way people express themselves in the context of an anxiety-provoking event, the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This study is based on semi-structured interviews conducted during the first lockdown period in France (23 April-16 May 2020) with people exposed to the 13 November 2015 attacks (N = 31) and nonexposed people (N = 57).Results: People with PTSD had longer narratives and used more first-person singular pronouns, lower first-person plural pronouns, more words related to negative emotions and anxiety compared to the nonexposed group. Within the PTSD group, there was no significant difference between the use of words related to the attacks and the pandemic. Conversely, the nonexposed group used more words related to the COVID-19 pandemic compared to words related to the attacks.Conclusion: These results confirm, as have other studies, that a history of PTSD can specifically modify the style and narrative of past experiences. They underline the importance of including linguistic analyses in psychological assessments of PTSD.
Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are among the most vulnerable groups to experience burnout during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Understanding the risk and protective factors of burnout is crucial in guiding the development of interventions; however, the understanding of burnout determinants in the Canadian HCW population remains limited.Objective: Identify risk and protective factors associated with burnout in Canadian HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluate organizational factors as moderators in the relationship between COVID-19 contact and burnout.Methods: Data were drawn from an online longitudinal survey of Canadian HCWs collected between 26 June 2020 and 31 December 2020. Participants completed questions pertaining to their well-being, burnout, workplace support and concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Baseline data from 1029 HCWs were included in the analysis. Independent samples t-tests and multiple linear regression were used to evaluate factors associated with burnout scores.Results: HCWs in contact with COVID-19 patients showed significantly higher likelihood of probable burnout than HCWs not directly providing care to COVID-19 patients. Fewer years of work experience was associated with a higher likelihood of probable burnout, whereas stronger workplace support, organizational leadership, supervisory leadership, and a favourable ethical climate were associated with a decreased likelihood of probable burnout. Workplace support, organizational leadership, supervisory leadership, and ethical climate did not moderate the associations between contact with COVID-19 patients and burnout.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that HCWs who worked directly with COVID-19 patients, had fewer years of work experience, and perceived poor workplace support, organizational leadership, supervisory leadership and ethical climate were at higher risk of burnout. Ensuring reasonable work hours, adequate support from management, and fostering an ethical work environment are potential organizational-level strategies to maintain HCWs' well-being.
Background: Police officers are frequently exposed to a wide variety of potentially traumatic events (PTE) and are therefore at a considerable risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Previous research estimated the point prevalence of PTSD in Belgian police officers at 7.4%, significantly higher than in the general population. An effective organisational strategy to manage posttraumatic stress is essential.Objective: We aimed to develop a novel organisational approach regarding traumatic stress for Belgian police, combining evidence-based strategies for the prevention and treatment of posttraumatic stress in a stepped care intervention model.Method: In a broad development process, we combined scientific literature, case studies of best practices from other police organisations with insights gathered from a number of expert panels, thematic working groups and feedback groups.Results: A comprehensive stepped care intervention model was developed, consisting of evidence-based interventions for the prevention and treatment of posttraumatic stress.Conclusions: The intervention model is a promising organisational strategy for the management of posttraumatic stress in police organisations based on evidence-based interventions. Its effectiveness will be studied in the coming years.
Background: As armed conflict grows increasingly complex, the involvement of children in armed violence across diverse roles is rising. Consequently, military personnel are more likely to encounter children during deployment. However, little is known about deployment-related encounters with children and their impact on the mental health of military personnel and Veterans.Objective: This study qualitatively examines the nature and impacts of deployment-related encounters with children.Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 Canadian Armed Forces Veterans, eliciting rich information on the nature of child encounters on deployment, the psycho-social-spiritual impacts of these encounters, and perceptions of support. Interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis.Results: Six primary themes were identified: types of encounters (i.e. factual aspects of deployment-related encounters with children), contextual factors (i.e. aspects of the mission, environment, and personal context relevant to one's experience of the encounter), appraisals of encounters (i.e. sensory or sense-making experiences relevant to the encounter), impacts of encounters (i.e. psycho-social, existential, and occupational impacts), coping strategies engaged in both during and after deployment, and support experiences, describing both formal and informal sources of support.Conclusions: Encounters with children are diverse and highly stressful, resulting in impacts pertinent to mental health, including psychological and moral distress, and difficulties with identity, spirituality, and relationships. These impacts are prompted by complex interactions among appraisals, expectations of morality, cultural norms, and professional duties and are amplified by various personal factors (e.g. childhood maltreatment history, parenthood), feelings of unpreparedness, and lack of post-deployment support. Implications for prevention, intervention, and policy are discussed with the aim of informing future efforts to safeguard and support military personnel facing a high likelihood of encounters with children.
Background: The initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly deteriorated mental health, especially among college students. Self-compassion has demonstrated benefits for psychological outcomes such as depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Notably, existing literature suggests that the protective and vulnerable aspects within the Self-Compassion Scale, namely, compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding (CSR and USR), can coexist within individuals and influence their mental health through various coexisting patterns. However, this process has not been sufficiently explored.Objective: This study aimed to explore the combined effects of CSR and USR on college students' depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, PTSS, and PTG during the initial wave of the pandemic.Method: In this cross-sectional study, 4450 Chinese college students (51.9% females, Mage = 20.58 years, SD = 1.49) completed self-report measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic's initial wave in 2020. Response surface analyses were utilised to investigate the combined effects of CSR and USR.Results: Simultaneously increased CSR and USR were associated with a slight increase in depressive symptoms, PTSS, and life satisfaction, but a substantial increase in PTG. Conversely, increased CSR and decreased USR were associated with a considerable decrease in depressive symptoms and PTSS, a significant increase in life satisfaction, and a moderate increase in PTG.Conclusions: CSR and USR demonstrated protective and vulnerable impacts, respectively. It is imperative to analyse their combined effects as an interactive system and consider the specific characteristics of different psychological responses.
Background: Although trauma exposure is universally prevalent, the ways in which individuals respond to potentially traumatic events vary. Between-country differences have been identified as affecting the development and manifestation of transdiagnostic psychological symptoms, but it remains unclear how stress and trauma-related transdiagnostic symptoms and risk patterns differ based on geographic region.Objective: To explore whether there are distinct classes of stress and trauma-related transdiagnostic symptoms and to determine predictors of class membership in a global sample.Method: Participants (N = 8675) from 115 different countries were recruited online between 2020-2022 and completed the Global Psychotrauma Screen, which assesses stress and trauma exposure, related symptoms, and risk factors. A latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify classes of stress and trauma-related symptoms per world region (African States, Asia-Pacific States, Eastern European States, Latin American and Caribbean States, Western European and Other States, and North America) and the total sample. Likelihood of class membership was assessed based on demographics, characteristics of the potentially traumatic event, and potential risk factors across the world regions.Results: Similar class compositions were observed across regions. A joint latent class analysis identified three classes that differed by symptom severity (i.e. high, moderate, low). Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed several factors that conferred greater risk for experiencing higher levels of symptoms, including geographic region, gender, and lack of social support, among others.Conclusions: Stress and trauma-related symptoms seem to be similarly transdiagnostic across the world, supporting the value of a transdiagnostic assessment.
Background: Research has shown that potential perpetrators and individuals high in psychopathic traits tend to body language cues to target a potential new victim. However, whether targeting occurs also by tending to vocal cues has not been examined. Thus, the role of voice in interpersonal violence merits investigation.Objective: In two studies, we examined whether perpetrators could differentiate female speakers with and without sexual and physical assault histories (presented as rating the degree of 'vulnerability' to victimization).Methods: Two samples of male listeners (sample one N = 105, sample two, N = 109) participated. Each sample rated 18 voices (9 survivors and 9 controls). Listener sample one heard spontaneous speech, and listener sample two heard the second sentence of a standardized passage. Listeners' self-reported psychopathic traits and history of previous perpetration were measured.Results: Across both samples, history of perpetration (but not psychopathy) predicted accuracy in distinguishing survivors of assault.Conclusions: These findings highlight the potential role of voice in prevention and intervention. Gaining a further understanding of what voice cues are associated with accuracy in discerning survivors can also help us understand whether or not specialized voice training could have a role in self-defense practices.
Background: During the post-World War II occupation of Austria, approximately 20,000-30,000 'children born of war' (CBOW), also called occupation children were born through intimate contacts between Austrian women and occupation soldiers. Research on other CBOW populations indicates that CBOW mostly grow up under difficult conditions, sometimes with strong long-term mental health consequences.Objective: To examine whether comparable psychosocial consequences can be found in Austrian occupation children (AOC), a first quantitative study was carried out.Method: Child maltreatment, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and somatization, and general life satisfaction were assessed in a sample of 98 AOC using self-report instruments. Results were compared to a sample of German occupation children (GOC; N = 146).Results: High prevalence of above threshold full (10.2%) and partial (14.3%) PTSD, somatic (16.3%) and depressive (11.1%) symptomatology were found in AOC. They were at high risk of child maltreatment (e.g. emotional abuse: 53.6%), which was associated with current symptomatology. Notably, AOC tended to report high levels of general life satisfaction. No differences were found between GOC and AOC.Conclusions: Findings highlight the complex and long-term effects of developmental conditions and childhood maltreatment on mental health of CBOW, even decades later. Findings of high life satisfaction provide evidence of resilience and maturation processes across the lifespan.