Anxiety, meaning in life, self-efficacy and resilience in families with one or more members with special educational needs and disability during COVID-19 pandemic in Greece

Maternal and fetal neurocognitive outcomes in preeclampsia and eclampsia; a narrative review of current evidence

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), such as preeclampsia and eclampsia, present significant risks to maternal and fetal health. While immediate complications are well-documented, emerging research highlights potential neurocognitive impacts on both mothers and their offspring. This narrative review synthesizes evidence on these neurocognitive outcomes associated with HDP, focusing on preeclampsia and eclampsia. A literature search was conducted for studies published from 2000 to February 2024. Maternal outcomes, including memory, executive function, and psychosocial well-being, were assessed across 11 studies, while fetal and neonatal neurocognitive outcomes were explored in five studies. Consistent findings indicate that preeclampsia and eclampsia are linked to impairments in maternal cognitive functions and psychosocial health. Offspring exposed to these conditions in utero also show cognitive deficits and alterations in brain connectivity. Contributing factors include placental dysfunction, altered angiokine levels, maternal stress, and socioeconomic variables. To mitigate these impacts, future research should focus on clarifying the underlying mechanisms and developing early interventions. This review emphasizes the necessity of multidisciplinary approaches to improve neurocognitive outcomes for both mothers and their children affected by preeclampsia and eclampsia.

Interaction between anxiety symptoms and decreased meaning in life: One possible pathway linking childhood trauma and depression- evidence from the network analysis

BACKGROUND

Robust evidence suggests that individuals exposed to childhood trauma are more vulnerable to suffering from later depression. However, the pathway connecting the experience of childhood trauma and depression remains unclear.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTINGS

A total of 3663 participants from six colleges in China completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7, and Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale. Among all participants, 3115 (Mage = 19.20, SDage = 1.38, males = 1384) participants met the selective standard of suffering from childhood trauma and were divided into the traumatized depressed group (the DT group) (n = 1432, Mage = 19.26, males = 700) and traumatized non-depressed group (the UDT group) (n = 1683, Mage = 19.15, males = 684).

METHODS

In the present study, we examined the comorbidity of anxiety and the facets of meaning in the life network model. We then calculated the bridge symptoms and compared the networks of the DT group and the UDT group.

RESULTS

The results of the t-test showed that the DT group scored significantly higher on all symptoms of anxiety and significantly lower on all dimensions of meaning in life compared to the UDT group. Meanwhile, the strongest bridge exists between "Mattering" and "Restlessness" in the symptom network of the DT group, while there is no bridge in the symptom network of the UDT group. The result of NCT indicates that the global strength and the EI value of "Mattering" are significantly higher in the symptom network of the DT group than in the UDT group.

CONCLUSION

Intervention targeting improving the self-esteem of individuals suffering from childhood trauma may help to alleviate their depression and anxiety symptoms.

Domestic Violence, Mental Health, and Resilience Among Older Adults in the U.S. During COVID-19

OBJECTIVES

The current study based on the Stress Process Model investigated the impact of experiences of domestic violence on mental health as well as resilience against negative mental health outcomes among older adults in U.S. during COVID-19.

METHOD

Participants included 522 older adults (ages 51-80 and older) living in US at the time of the survey. Path analysis using Mplus was employed. Results:The experience of domestic violence among older adults during the pandemic was positively associated with loneliness and anxiety directly and indirectly. However, resilience acted as a protective factor between the experiences of domestic violence and anxiety. Conclusion: The experience of domestic violence may increase loneliness and anxiety among older adults during challenging times; however, resilience may weaken these negative psychological outcomes both directly and indirectly. Findings and implications are discussed.

Developing a new questionnaire of positive contributions to Chinese families by children with autism spectrum disorder

Background and Aims

A literature review of both Eastern and Western literature regarding families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) revealed limited empirical research that examines ASD in China. Furthermore, most research in this area comes from a deficit model and there is a lack of research that comes from a strengths background. No previous study in China has looked at the positive contributions of children with ASD to their families. The present study came from a strengths-based perspective and aimed to develop a new questionnaire to evaluate the positive contributions made to families by children who have ASD in China and are raised by their respective families. It considered the severity level of the children's disorder and the impact this had on the parents. Besides examining the children's impairment levels, the study also examined positive contributions and their relationship with socio-demographic elements such as family income and employment status of the parents, which also seem to be related to the positive contributions experienced by the parents.

Methods

First, based on the literature review, an initial qualitative interview protocol was developed and administered to 10 parents of children with ASD. Then, based on the analyses of the interviews, a quantitative questionnaire was developed to assess the positive contributions of children with ASD to their families. The questionnaire was then administered to 156 parents of children with ASD. The internal structure of the questionnaire was analyzed by factor analysis. The questionnaire's reliability and validity were also examined. The data were then analyzed with multiple correlation comparisons and an independent sample T-test.

Results

Six factors emerged for families of children with ASD. The results showed that the cumulative explanatory variance of the six dimensions of the questionnaire was 65.42%. The Cronbach's coefficient of each dimension was between 0.7 and 0.9, and the combined Cronbach's coefficient of the total questionnaire was 0.945. This study found that the overall average positive contribution to families by children with ASD was 3.32, which is at a medium level, and all six dimensions were at a medium-to-high level. This study also found that the family's monthly income contributed to the overall positive contribution, intimacy and happiness, and gaining more special knowledge through experience dimensions. Furthermore, it was found that moderate severity of ASD, high income, and parental employment were all associated with more positive contributions.

Conclusion

This new questionnaire appears to have good reliability and validity and seems suitable for assessing the positive contributions to families by children with ASD in China.

Implications

The present study may be helpful for the parents of children with ASD and will likely help them focus on the strengths of their children rather than their shortcomings. The study might also benefit counselors and researchers who would be able to use the new questionnaire to evaluate the positive contributions made to families by children who have ASD.

Psychological Resilience Factors and Their Association With Weekly Stressor Reactivity During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Europe: Prospective Longitudinal Study

BACKGROUND

Cross-sectional relationships between psychosocial resilience factors (RFs) and resilience, operationalized as the outcome of low mental health reactivity to stressor exposure (low "stressor reactivity" [SR]), were reported during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

OBJECTIVE

Extending these findings, we here examined prospective relationships and weekly dynamics between the same RFs and SR in a longitudinal sample during the aftermath of the first wave in several European countries.

METHODS

Over 5 weeks of app-based assessments, participants reported weekly stressor exposure, mental health problems, RFs, and demographic data in 1 of 6 different languages. As (partly) preregistered, hypotheses were tested cross-sectionally at baseline (N=558), and longitudinally (n=200), using mixed effects models and mediation analyses.

RESULTS

RFs at baseline, including positive appraisal style (PAS), optimism (OPT), general self-efficacy (GSE), perceived good stress recovery (REC), and perceived social support (PSS), were negatively associated with SR scores, not only cross-sectionally (baseline SR scores; all P<.001) but also prospectively (average SR scores across subsequent weeks; positive appraisal (PA), P=.008; OPT, P<.001; GSE, P=.01; REC, P<.001; and PSS, P=.002). In both associations, PAS mediated the effects of PSS on SR (cross-sectionally: 95% CI -0.064 to -0.013; prospectively: 95% CI -0.074 to -0.0008). In the analyses of weekly RF-SR dynamics, the RFs PA of stressors generally and specifically related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and GSE were negatively associated with SR in a contemporaneous fashion (PA, P<.001; PAC,P=.03; and GSE, P<.001), but not in a lagged fashion (PA, P=.36; PAC, P=.52; and GSE, P=.06).

CONCLUSIONS

We identified psychological RFs that prospectively predict resilience and cofluctuate with weekly SR within individuals. These prospective results endorse that the previously reported RF-SR associations do not exclusively reflect mood congruency or other temporal bias effects. We further confirm the important role of PA in resilience.

How does parental emotion regulation influence Chinese migrant children's resilience? The chain mediating role of self-efficacy and hope

To examine the chain mediating role of self-efficacy and hope in the relationship between parental emotion regulation and migrant children's resilience, the study investigated 745 migrant children (mean age = 12.9, SD = 1.5, 371 boys) from four schools and their parents in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, China. All children were asked to complete the Adolescent Resilience Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Children's Hope Scale. Their parents completed the Parental Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling showed that parental emotion regulation could not only directly influence children's resilience but also indirectly influence it through two paths: the independent mediating role of self-efficacy and the chain mediating role of self-efficacy and hope. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how parental emotion regulation influences migrant children's resilience and provide important practical guidance for enhancing migrant children's resilience.

Perceived Anxiety in Family Caregivers of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome and Williams Syndrome during the Lockdown of the First COVID-19 Wave in Spain

The lockdown during the first wave of COV- ID-19 in Spain has been related to higher levels of anxiety in the general population. However, the emotional impact on Spanish caregivers of individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) has not been studied so far.

Virtual Training on Stress Management for the Mothers of Children with Disabilities in the United Arab Emirates

Parenting children with disabilities has consistently been reported to be associated with stress, and even more so among mothers who are primary caregivers. In non-Western contexts such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), there is a dearth of research on maternal mental health in relation to raising children with disabilities and related mitigation strategies. During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021), the Federal Government of the UAE used the Save the Child's Stress Checklist to assess the stress levels of 635 mothers who were raising children with disabilities in the northern part of the country. In the pre-test, an estimated 6% (36/635) of the mothers were found to be experiencing high levels of stress. Consequently, virtual stress management training was conducted, and 12 of the 36 mothers completed the full training. Wilcoxon's ranked test showed a reduction in their total, physical, emotional and cognitive stress at the end of the training. This study demonstrates the pressing need for ongoing training programmes to improve the mental health of mothers of children with disabilities in the UAE and similar contexts.

Resilience, and positive parenting in parents of children with syndromic autism and intellectual disability. Evidence from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family's quality of life and parent-child relationships

Family quality of life (FQoL) outcomes collected during the first year of COVID-19 has been combined with 2018 data to estimate the outbreak's impact on parental outcomes on a sample of 230 families with syndromic autistic children and those with intellectual disabilities (IDs). Despite challenges imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak, our study found that FQoL outcomes reported by participating parents during the first year of COVID-19 appears to be similar to ratings from a prepandemic study of families with the same conditions. Parents of children in our sample generally displayed a stable functioning trajectory as measured by the validated FQoL instrument. Across syndromic autistic groups considered, families reported that their relationships with their children were positive. Our findings provide evidence of families' resilience which might explain the presence of positive parent-child interactions during COVID-19. Exploring mechanisms which would explain how families with autistic and ID children confront, manage disruptive experiences, and buffer COVID-19 induced stress is a fruitful direction for future research.

Relationships among nursing students’ self-concept clarity, meaning in life, emotion regulation ability and depression: Testing a moderated mediation model

Objective

Self-concept clarity as an inducing factor of depressive symptoms has been confirmed in previous studies. However, little is known about how and when it induces depressive symptoms in nursing students. The study is to examine the potential mediating role of meaning in life and the moderation of emotion regulation ability in the association between self-concept clarity and depressive symptoms among college nursing students.

Materials and Methods

A sample of 488 college nursing students participated in this study Southeast China. The Chinese adaptations of Self-concept clarity Scale, Sense of life Scale, Depression scale, Emotion regulation scale were used. Mediation and moderation analyses were carried out in the SPSS macro PROCESS.

Results

Self-concept clarity was significantly and negatively associated with depression in nursing students, meaning in life had a partial mediating effect on the relationship between self-concept clarity and depression. Furthermore, emotion regulation ability moderated the direct effect of self-concept clarity on depression.

Conclusion

The findings enrich the knowledge of the mediating and moderating mechanisms to explain the association between self-concept clarity and depression in nursing students. There have been proposed interventions concerning increasing self-concept clarity, meaning in life and emotion regulation ability training which could help help reduce the depression among nursing students.

Outcomes of genital hygiene and anxiety training for mothers of girls with profound intellectual disabilities: A randomized controlled experiment

Female children with profound intellectual disabilities (IDs) may experience symptoms of urinary tract infections (UTIs) and depend on others' care. However, their caregivers may lack general hygiene skills and experience heightened anxiety when their care is expected. This study reports outcome of a training that aims to enhance genital hygiene skills and decrease anxiety levels of mothers of girls diagnosed with profound ID. The study was conducted in a city located in Turkey in 2020. It was designed with a randomized controlled experimental approach based on a pre-test and post-test model with experimental and control groups. The sample consisted of 66 mothers of girls who were diagnosed with profound ID, did not have UTI but were at high risk of developing it. A 6-week program with 24 sessions was implemented. After the training, mothers in the experimental group changed the sanitary pad and the underwear during menstruation and gave their daughters a bath more frequently; had a higher knowledge of recognizing and preventing UTI symptoms and cleaning of the perineum area; and had significantly lower levels of anxiety. A carefully designed simulator-based training can enhance the knowledge and skills of mothers to recognize the UTI symptoms, apply their knowledge to prevent the symptoms and implement genital hygiene practices, which in turn have a positive effect on reducing their level of anxiety.

Exploring the Socio-Demographic and Psychosocial Factors That Enhance Resilience in the COVID-19 Crisis

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has greatly affected mental health worldwide. This study aimed to identify sociodemographic and psychosocial factors that influence the level of resilience among Singaporeans amidst the pandemic. An online questionnaire was administered to Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 21 and above. The online questionnaire collected information on sociodemographics, infection, and contact with COVID-19. Psychosocial variables-specifically optimism, self-efficacy, hope, and resilience-were also assessed through validated questionnaires. A total of 404 responses were collected in this study. Men were reported to have higher resilience compared to women (28.13 vs. 25.54, p-value < 0.001). Married individuals were observed to have higher resilience compared to their single counterparts (27.92 vs. 25.77, p-value < 0.001). Interestingly, participants who knew of family members/friends who had contracted COVID-19 were reported to be more resilient than those who did not (28.09 vs. 26.19, p-value = 0.013). Optimism, self-efficacy, and hope were also found to be associated with higher resilience (p-value < 0.001). In conclusion, one's sex, marital status, contact with COVID-19, level of optimism, self-efficacy, and hope were shown to significantly affect resilience. Given the long-drawn nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, interventions should aim to improve optimism, self-efficacy, and hopefulness in the community.

Modeling linkages between self-efficacy, normalization, and well-being factors among Israeli mothers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Parents' well-being may be challenged by the neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs) of their children. This study explored general self-efficacy (personal resource) and normalization (coping strategy) and their possible association with mothers' well-being (satisfaction with life/SWL, positive affect, and presence of meaning in life/P-MIL).

METHOD

Data were obtained from 127 Israeli mothers, ages 23-63, of children (M = 12.08, SD = 3.39) with NDs (autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy). All participants completed online self-report questionnaires.

RESULTS

After controlling for the effects of group, mother's age, and child's gender, bivariate associations showed that general self-efficacy was positively correlated with SWL (r =.46, p <.001), positive affect (r =.43, p <.001), and P-MIL (r =.37, p <.001). The study's mediation model was partly supported: General self-efficacy was related to normalization, which was related to SWL and positive affect, but not to P-MIL.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

This study contributes to the empirical knowledge on well-being in mothers raising children with NDs. Findings revealed that mothers' general self-efficacy alongside their strategy to adopt normalcy substantially contributed to their well-being. Hence, psychosocial services should strengthen general self-efficacy in this cohort and support their normalization efforts.

The role of uncertainty tolerance and meaning in life on depression and anxiety throughout Covid-19 pandemic

The aim of the current study was to investigate the predictive role of intolerance to uncertainty, meaning in life, gender, marital status, having a child, chronic illness, living with a relative over the age of 65, having health care worker relative, the presence of someone infected with Covid-19 around, and frequency of hand washing on depression and anxiety throughout Covid-19 pandemic. 426 adults (263 women, 163 men) participated to the study. The range of age was between 18 and 74, with the mean of 37.40. Intolerance to Uncertainty Scale, Meaning in Life Scale, Beck Anxiety Scale, Beck Depression Scale were used to collect data. The results indicated that 13.8% (59) of participants had depression, 7% had moderate, 7.5% severe anxiety. Findings yielded that meaning in life and intolerance of uncertainty were significant predictors of depression and anxiety. Chronic illness significantly predicted anxiety, the frequency of washing hand significantly predicted depression. It was concluded that the most important variables predicting both depression and anxiety was intolerance to uncertainty and meaning in life.

Psychological and behavioral responses during the COVID-19 pandemic among individuals with mobility and/or self-care disabilities

Background

The lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic created major obstacles for individuals with disabilities to obtain support in their daily living.

Objectives

This study was to examine the psychological and behavioral responses of US individuals with mobility and/or self-care disabilities during the pandemic.

Methods

From a nationally representative longitudinal survey (n = 6403) administered during the pandemic, individuals were classified at baseline as having no mobility/self-care disability (ADL = 0, n = 4975), mobility or self-care disability (ADL = 1, n = 1061), and both mobility and self-care disabilities (ADL = 2, n = 367). Weighted mean of baseline mental distress scores (PHQ4), psychological risk factors (loneliness, stress, perceived COVID risk), resilience, and coping were compared among these groups. Random effects models were employed to assess the effects of disability and disability-moderated effects of risk factors on mental distress.

Results

At baseline, mental distress increased with greater ADL disabilities (Mean[95%CI] = 1.88[1.77, 1.98], 2.54[2.29, 2.79], and 3.55[3.01, 4.08] for ADL = 0, 1, and 2, respectively, p < .0001). Loneliness, stress, and perceived risk increased with ADL disabilities, but resilience and social coping decreased with it (p's < 0.0001). In the random-effects models, greater ADL disabilities, higher psychological risks, and use of cannabis and other recreational drugs were associated with greater mental distress. Greater ADL disabilities augmented the detrimental effects of risk factors on mental health, but resilience protected mental health both independently and through a buffering effect on its risk factors across all groups.

Conclusion

Individuals with mobility and/or self-care disability tend to have poorer mental health and are differentially more affected by its risk factors. Mental health professionals should address these modifiable factors in interventions.

Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the health of university students

The Covid-19 pandemic caused by the novel Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus, has resulted in millions of deaths and disruption to daily life across the globe. University students have been additionally affected by a sudden move to online learning, the closure of campuses and dramatic societal changes that have upended their experiences of higher education. Here we focus on the physical and mental health consequences of the pandemic for this population sector during 2020, and the interdependencies of these impacts. We survey the challenges for infection control on campuses and for monitoring the disease dynamics in student communities. Finally, we explore the psychological and mental health problems that have been exacerbated by the pandemic and evaluate the underlying factors that are most relevant to students.