Mental health science最新文献

Mobile health (mHealth) interventions are a promising approach to promote mothers' and fathers' health in the perinatal period. This may be particularly true for psychosocially burdened families who are poorly reached by current preventive services. Studies are needed that examine how user-centered and evidence-based mHealth interventions look like for this target group. The objective of this paper is to describe the iterative development process of the I-PREGNO app intervention that aims to prevent unhealthy weight gain and to promote mental health in psychosocially burdened families during the perinatal period. The systematic content development process was divided into four stages. User needs were assessed through focus group discussions with psychosocially burdened mothers and healthcare professionals (HPs; stage I). In stage II, a prototype of the app was developed and evaluated through usability tests and a walkthrough with the target group and HPs (stage III). Finally, the behavior change techniques implemented in the app were assessed using an existing taxonomy (stage IV). The focus group discussions revealed that HPs as well as end-users would benefit from an intervention that addresses psychosocial aspects (i.e., emotion regulation, coping) and links these to health behaviors. The identified needs of the target group during the perinatal period were combined with existing evidence-based content and translated into 12 app modules. Most of the behavior change techniques used in these thematic modules were assigned to the clusters self-monitoring, knowledge building, and goal planning. The I-PREGNO app development process was guided by an iterative and user-centered approach involving the target audience and a multidisciplinary team of experts. The findings provide valuable implications for the design and development of evidence-based self-guided mHealth for hard-to-reach groups during the transition to parenthood. The efficacy of the I-PREGNO intervention will be evaluated in randomized controlled trials in routine care.

Physical activity (PA) is understood to be important for the prevention and treatment of depression, however, less is known about the effects of withdrawal from PA on mood. Here we consider evidence published since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on PA patterns and to evaluate whether engagement in PA in the context of the pandemic had an impact on depression vulnerability. During the initial stages of the pandemic and consequent lockdowns, there were global decreases in PA, with women, ethnic minorities, lower-education, lower-income, younger, and elderly people displaying more marked reductions in PA. Less PA was associated with a higher risk of experiencing moderate-to-severe depression symptoms, particularly for those who decreased their PA levels compared to pre-pandemic. Both PA and sedentary behavior were independently associated with depression, such that low activity and high amounts of sitting both increased the likelihood of clinically significant symptoms. We also consider the role social connection during movement; while both in-person and online PA can foster a sense of belonging, there is some evidence that socially distant, pandemic-safe movement might disincentivise certain groups such as older adults and experienced exercisers from participating in PA. We conclude with several implications for prospective public health communications regarding PA, especially in the event of another global pandemic.

Mindfulness and self-regulation practice have shown benefits in reducing emotional disorders and improving cognitive outcomes. This study uses ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine time-lagged associations of momentary mindfulness and self-regulation on affective and cognitive outcomes within college students' natural environments. College students (n = 186) received six surveys per day for seven consecutive days in 2021, 2022, and 2023 using the Expiwell application. Each survey measured students' momentary affect, perceived cognition, mindfulness, and self-regulation levels. Due to nested data structure, multilevel models were used for analysis. Findings from 4982 EMA surveys revealed that higher levels of momentary mindfulness and self-regulation at one-time point were positively associated with perceived cognition (β = 0.102, p < 0.001; β = 0.054, p < 0.05) and positive affect (β = 0.061, p < 0.01; β = 0.057, p < 0.05), and negatively associated with negative affect (β = −0.023, p < 0.005; β = −0.019, p < 0.05) at the subsequent timepoints within a day, after controlling for between-person associations and other covariates. Higher states of momentary mindfulness and self-regulation were associated with enhanced affect and cognition at later timepoints within a day. Given these associations, targeting health interventions to induce more frequent practice of mindfulness and self-regulation in students' daily routines could be a potential way to improve their momentary affect and cognition.

Experiencing stress can be associated with feeling and looking older. The goal of this study was to examine daily fluctuations in control beliefs as a potential moderator of the relationship between daily stressors and two indicators of subjective aging in younger adults. Data were collected from 107 younger adults between the ages of 18 and 36 (M = 19.96) who completed an online questionnaire via Qualtrics daily for 9 consecutive days. On Day 1, participants reported demographic information and on Days 2–9, participants reported their daily subjective ages (how old they felt and how old they looked), daily stressors, and perceptions of daily control beliefs. Results from multilevel models revealed that increases in daily stressors were associated with increases in both felt and look age. Although there was no main effect of control beliefs, control beliefs did function as a moderator of the relationship between daily stressors and felt age as well as between daily stressors and look age. Specifically, the aging effect of daily stressors was not significant on days with increases in control beliefs. These results suggest that young adults feel and look older on days when they experience higher levels of stressors and that increases in perceptions of control help to mitigate this effect.

Despite the importance of daily stress to individuals' health and wellbeing, few studies have explored where stress happens in real time, that is, dynamic stress processes in different spaces. As such, stress interventions rarely account for the environment in which stress occurs. We used mobile phone based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to collect daily stress data. Thirty-three participants utilized a mobile-phone-based EMA app to self-report stressors as they went about their daily lives. Geographic coordinates were automatically collected with each stress report. Data from thematic analysis of stressors by location (home, work, work from home, other) were used to determine whether certain stressors were more prevalent in certain environments. Nine daily stressors significantly differed by location. Work-related stress was reported more often at work. Pets, household chores, sleep, and media-related stressors were reported most at home. Physical illnesses, vehicle issues, and safety/security stressors occurred most often while participants were “working from home.” Traffic-related stress was experienced more commonly in “other” environments. Other 18 stressors were generated regardless of location, suggesting that these stressors were persistent and without respect to location. Study findings expand the understanding of environments in which specific stressors occur, providing baseline data for potential targeted “just-in-time” stress interventions tailored to unique stressors in specific environments. We also provide findings related to the “work from home” phenomenon. Further work is needed to better understand the unique stressors among the large number of individuals who transitioned to working from home during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Caregivers may play an essential role in buffering and/or exacerbating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) fears and behaviors in youth. However, few studies have examined these associations in children from racial or ethnic minority groups, who have been historically marginalized and may be disproportionately susceptible to psychological consequences. Here, we examined the associations among caregivers and children in COVID-19-related fears, behaviors, and impact in a majority Black (71.9%) sample of children. Children (N = 64, 24 females, ages 7–10 years) were recruited from three Detroit, Michigan-area schools during the 2019–2020 school year. Following school shutdowns in March 2020, children and their caregivers were invited to complete remote surveys in May and August 2020. We examined the associations among child and caregiver COVID-19-related fears, preventive behaviors, and perceived impact. We also examined whether aspects of the caregiver–child relationship (i.e., closeness, conflicts) moderated these associations. Caregiver–child fears about social distancing, preventive behaviors, and the perceived impact of COVID-19 were positively correlated. The positive correlation between caregiver–child preventive behaviors strengthened over time and was moderated by caregiver–child closeness. These findings suggest that caregivers may impact fear as well as preventive behaviors and perceived impact of the pandemic in marginalized youth.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects many military veterans. Given limited success of and barriers to conventional treatments, increasing interest is being paid to mind-body therapy approaches. However, little evidence exists on whether these have the potential to treat traumatic stress. The aim of this study was to compare 6 months of hands-on mind-body therapy as an add-on to treatment as usual (TAU) with TAU alone. Participants with PTSD resulting from active military service were randomly assigned to the intervention group or treatment-as-usual (TAU) group. The intervention group received 24 hands-on manipulative mind-body therapy sessions during 6 months as add-on to TAU. The primary outcome was the PTSD Checklist-Military version (PCL-M) at 6 months (postintervention). Outcome measurements were obtained at four time points; baseline, 3 months (midway), 6 months (postintervention), and 12 months (follow-up). Intention-to-treat analysis was done masked to allocation. A total of 42 participants were randomized (22 control, 20 intervention). In the intervention group, two discontinued the mind-body therapy. At postintervention, participants who had received mind-body treatment demonstrated greater reduction in PTSD severity (PCL-M scores between-group mean difference: −11.1, 95% CI −17.9 to −4.2, p = 0.002, effect size d = 1.06). At follow-up, PCL-M scores were not statistically significant between groups (between-group difference: −4.65, 95% CI −11.8 to 1.50). Post hoc analysis showed that number of participants remitting from PTSD from baseline to follow-up was 25% in the intervention group and 0% in the control group. Our study showed that hands-on mind-body therapy over 6 months produced clinically significant decrease in PTSD symptoms. The large reduction in symptoms was not maintained 6 months after the intervention period. Further research on mind-body therapy as adjunctive PTSD treatment is warranted.

Sexual trauma (ST) occurs with alarming frequency in the United States in the form of both childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adulthood sexual assault (ASA). It is well established that the effects of ST are pervasive and that ST can be a risk factor for the development of several psychiatric disorders. However, the potential for distinct psychological consequences or neural correlates between CSA and ASA has received little attention. Furthermore, despite the high prevalence of sexual revictimization, the combinatorial effects of CSA and ASA are understudied in comparison to each form of ST on its own. In the current review, we present results from both clinical psychology and neuroscience research on the impacts of CSA and ASA, describing major psychological, biopsychosocial, and neuroimaging findings for each form of ST. We further highlight limitations in the current state of the research and needed areas of future research to better understand the distinct, overlapping, and cumulative effects of ST in both childhood and adulthood. The present study summarizes the state of the literature on this critical form of trauma and provides recommendations for future clinical research practices to mitigate the deleterious outcomes of ST.