European Journal of Investigation in Health Psychology and Education最新文献

Adolescents and young adults across Europe face growing mental health challenges, yet many do not seek professional help. Online counselling chat services (OCCS) offer anonymous, accessible, and youth-friendly support, but their varied aims, formats, and resources complicate evaluation and integration into formal care systems. This study aimed to identify shared priorities for the development, evaluation, and implementation of OCCS for youth. Eight focus groups were conducted with 38 stakeholders-including researchers, counsellors, and service coordinators-from eight European countries. Through qualitative content analysis, six key thematic domains emerged: usability and engagement, service quality and effectiveness, infrastructure and integration, sustainability, ethical considerations, and future visions. Participants highlighted OCCS as valuable tools for fostering emotional safety, trust, and accessibility, while also noting persistent challenges such as limited funding, fragile infrastructure, and ethical tensions around anonymity and safeguarding. Crucially, the need for flexible evaluation frameworks that reflect service diversity and for stronger cross-model collaboration was emphasized. These findings provide a strategic foundation for advancing inclusive, sustainable, and youth-centered digital mental health support across Europe.

Research in "cybertherapy" has explored innovative ways to integrate new technologies as innovative tools in psychological treatment, such as virtual reality. Avatars, as digital representations of users within virtual environments, represent an interesting tool for psychotherapists: they could be used to assess aspects of patients' self-representations (assessment), to promote behavioral change based on an alternative self-image (treatment), or to exercise therapists' skills in diagnosis and assessment (formation). Yet, the use of avatars in psychotherapy is still not widespread. In the present study, 77 certified psychotherapists evaluated the three possible uses of avatars described above in terms of technology acceptance model (TAM) factors: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and intention-to-use. Partially confirming the TAM, the results show that perceived usefulness in particular is an effective predictor of intention to use avatars in psychotherapy for all three possible uses. Attitudes towards avatars as a psychotherapeutic tool were slightly influenced by mental health professionals' methodological approach, with cognitive-behavioral psychotherapists showing more positive attitudes towards avatars as a training tool. On the other hand, previous experiences with other technologies (e.g., conducting therapy online or not) affected the perception of avatars' ease of use as a treatment tool. The present study contributes to identifying factors that influence mental health professionals' attitudes towards technological innovations in the psychotherapy profession, giving directions for future research in cybertherapy adoption.

The interaction between two critical resources, emotional intelligence (EI) and perceived organizational support (POS), is studied to understand how they come together to associate resilience and well-being among healthcare professionals. Based on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, we explore whether these resources are synergistic or whether there is a substitutive relationship when combined. Data were collected from 304 healthcare professionals in Saudi Arabia, both local and foreign. Using structural equation modeling, we examined a moderated mediation model in which resilience was examined as a mediator of the associations of EI and POS with well-being, and their interaction was included as a correlate of both resilience and well-being. EI and POS both individually showed positive association with resilience and well-being. However, in interaction, they significantly negatively associated with both resilience and well-being, suggesting a substitution effect-i.e., high levels of one resource are linked to a lower marginal value of the other. This suggests a nonlinear dynamic to resource accumulation among pressured healthcare workers. This study advances COR and JD-R theories by uncovering a substitution effect between emotional intelligence and organizational support, offering fresh insights into resource dynamics among healthcare professionals.

Burnout is a growing concern in the teaching profession, reflecting the inability to cope with persistent workplace stress and posing serious risks to teachers' well-being and the sustainability of educational systems. It is characterised by diminished personal accomplishment, lack of fulfilment, and reduced productivity at work, usually expressed in three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and professional accomplishment. This study evaluated the relationship between burnout and workplace bullying among teachers in Portugal. Data were collected through an online questionnaire including sociodemographic information, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terrorization scale (LIPT-60), with a final sample of 2003 teachers from preschool to higher education. Both instruments demonstrated excellent validity and reliability (KMO > 0.90; Cronbach's α > 0.87). Most teachers presented a low risk of burnout (61.2%), while 36.9% were at moderate risk, with emotional exhaustion emerging as the most critical dimension (37.8% high levels). Statistically significant differences in burnout were found by gender, marital status, contractual relationship, working hours, and family separation. Workplace bullying correlated significantly with all burnout dimensions, with victims reporting higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation and lower professional accomplishment. These findings highlight the need for institutional strategies to reduce bullying and prevent teacher burnout, thereby promoting sustainable education systems.

Objective: This study on children in low-income families explored whether their mental health problems are attributable to distress from five socioeconomic disadvantage factors playing roles in the multiple disadvantage model. These factors are social disorganization, social structural factors, social relationships, health/mental health, and access to care factors. Methods: The present study employed data extracted from the 2021 National Survey of Children's Health, describing 7540 low-income children. Weighted logistic regression was conducted (with robust standard errors). Results: It showed that such children were more likely to have mental health problems when seven variables were present. The variables were argumentative children, parents' difficulty with parenting, children's difficult peer relations, children being bullied, families' problematic substance use, families' use of public health insurance, and families' difficulty accessing mental health services. In turn, children were less likely to have mental health problems in the presence of six variables: a rundown neighborhood, an unsafe neighborhood, children's Hispanic ethnicity, children's Asian ethnicity, children's general good health, and parents' good mental health. The present study's findings support the multiple disadvantage model. Conclusions: That is, the five types of factors key to the model (social disorganization, social structural, social relationships, health/mental health, and access to care) were observed to be related to low-income children's mental health problems. These findings' three main implications for practice are that it is crucial to (a) ensure children receive mental health services they need; (b) facilitate effective parent-child communication; and (c) provide low-income families with psychoeducation. Their main implications for policy involve two domains. Improving physical environments and safety in poor neighborhoods is necessary, as is enforcing schools' anti-bullying rules and using schools to foster students' assertiveness.

Background: The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) is widely used, although it has not been validated among early adolescents in Darjeeling, India. The aims of the study were to validate the psychometric properties of the MSPSS, and to test for measurement invariance by gender.

Methods: Survey data was collected from 274 early adolescents ages 10-14 living in Darjeeling, India. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) evaluated 1-, 2-, and 3-factor models. Reliability (Cronbach's α, McDonald's ω), convergent (peer problems), and concurrent validity (prosocial behavior) were assessed. Measurement invariance by gender was tested using multi-group CFA.

Results: The three-factor model of the MSPSS (Family, Friends, Significant Other) fit these data well (X²[49] = 69.3, p = 0.030; CFI = 0.98; RMSEA = 0.039; SRMR = 0.036). Measures of reliability, concurrent, and convergent validity were good with MSPSS scores correlated positively with prosocial behavior and negatively with peer problems (|r| = 0.30-0.45, p ≤ 0.001). Configural invariance by gender was not supported, indicating differences in item-level loadings.

Limitations: The MSPSS is a self-report measure, and social desirability bias is a potential limitation.

Conclusion: The MSPSS demonstrates good reliability and validity among early adolescents in Darjeeling, India. Given non-invariance by gender, subscale comparisons across boys and girls should be interpreted with caution.

Background: As societies worldwide experience rapid aging, maintaining psychological well-being in later life is increasingly important. In Japan, where spirituality often takes noninstitutional forms, the concept of spiritual health remains underexplored. Purpose in Life (PIL), a core component of spiritual health, has been shown to predict well-being and healthy aging, yet its correlates remain unexplored in rural Japanese populations. This study aimed to assess PIL levels and examine its sociodemographic, social and health-related correlates among older adults living in Shimane Prefecture, a super-aged region in Japan. Methods: A cross-sectional survey (May-August 2024) included 308 adults aged ≥65 years. The 20-item PIL scale categorized respondents into low, moderate, and high PIL. Group differences were examined with chi-square/Fisher tests; unadjusted associations were used with ordered logistic regression. Multivariable analyses used a generalized (partial) proportional-odds model, adjusted for age and sex, with results reported as odds ratios and 95% CIs. Results: 42.9% of participants were classified as high PIL and 18.8% as low. Volunteering showed threshold-specific effects: it was unrelated to moderate PIL levels but was associated with approximately 2.4-times higher odds of high PIL (95% CI 1.32-4.38, p = 0.004). University education showed a trend-level association with higher PIL after controlling for false discovery rate (aOR 3.16, 95% CI 1.28-7.82, p = 0.013). The worse self-rated health was associated with lower PIL after adjustment. Conclusions: Subjective health and psychosocial engagement are key correlates of PIL in rural older adults. Culturally sensitive interventions may help promote purpose and well-being in aging populations.

Young people in residential care settings hold distinct preferences regarding their relationships with key adults, including caseworkers and caregivers. However, their perspectives are not consistently assessed or effectively integrated into case planning. Evaluating this integration is essential for fostering positive adjustment and placement stability. Given that residential care represents the predominant child welfare intervention in Portugal, this study adapts and validates an existing instrument for use with youth in residential care institutions, providing evidence of its validity and reliability. Self-report questionnaires-the Positive Residential Care Integration (PRCI) scale (an adapted Positive Home Integration scale) and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-were administered to 511 youth (279 girls and 232 boys), aged 12 to 24 years, across 46 Portuguese residential care institutions. The study examined the face validity, discriminant validity, and reliability of the PRCI scale. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated good model fit, supporting a unidimensional six-item structure. Correlation analyses demonstrated associations with psychological adjustment and sociodemographic variables. The PRCI scale showed satisfactory psychometric properties, confirming its reliability for assessing youth integration in residential care. Cross-gender measurement invariance was also confirmed. These findings underscore the instrument's relevance and validity for evaluating integration within residential settings and provide valuable guidance for caregivers, professionals, and caseworkers in child welfare services.

Intimacy is a core domain of personality functioning, but it can be compromised by defensive and dissociative processes. Given this, the present study aimed to develop and validate the Dissociation of Intimacy Questionnaire (DIQ), a multidimensional self-report instrument assessing dissociative disruptions of intimacy. The DIQ consists of two parallel forms ("Me with Others" and "Others with Me") developed to capture five distinct dimensions of the dissociation of intimacy: emotional, psychological, physical, social, and sexual. The sample comprised 500 participants (74% females; M_age = 31.92 years, SD = 12.78) recruited through online snowball sampling. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, alongside reliability and validity testing. Both exploratory and confirmatory analyses supported the five-factor structure of the DIQ, with satisfactory model fit indices. Internal consistency was good across all subscales. Convergent validity was demonstrated through significant positive correlations with insecure attachment, alexithymia, somatoform dissociation, and impairments in personality functioning. The DIQ is a robust and clinically relevant tool for assessing dissociation of intimacy. Its multidimensional and mirror structure allows for a detailed understanding of impairments in attitudes to closeness and provides a valuable framework for both research and psychotherapy.

Parenting stress, social support, and mental health among parents of individuals with intellectual disabilities have garnered significant scholarly attention. Although existing research has extensively elucidated the relationship between parenting stress and mental health, there is limited systematic investigation into the role of social support-particularly regarding which and how social support moderates the impact of parenting stress on the mental health of these parents. Based on data from the 2020 Comprehensive Survey on Caregiving Burden and Public Service Needs of Families with Intellectual Disabilities conducted in Shenzhen, this study examines the relationships among parenting stress, social support, and mental health of Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. The findings reveal that overall, parenting stress exerts a significant negative effect on parental mental health, while social support has a significant positive effect. Further moderation analysis indicates that both subjective support and support utilization partially alleviate the adverse effect of parenting stress on mental health, whereas objective support primarily enhances mental health through a direct pathway. Moreover, differential patterns emerge between parents with and without disabilities: for non-disabled parents, subjective support and support utilization both directly improve mental health and reduce the negative impact of parenting stress. Objective support, however, only contributes directly to mental health and does not show a moderating effect. In contrast, among parents with disabilities, objective support effectively promotes mental health but does not mitigate parenting stress; subjective support and support utilization show neither direct nor buffering effects. These findings enrich the empirical literature on family mental health in the context of intellectual disability and offer practical implications for enhancing family support policies and improving the well-being of affected households.