Media intervention program for reducing unrealistic optimism bias: The link between unrealistic optimism, well-being, and health

Patients' Perspectives on Medication-Related Suicide Prevention Interventions Delivered in Emergency Settings

OBJECTIVE

Encouraging patients at risk for suicide to reduce access to potentially lethal medications and drugs is a key component of evidence-based suicide prevention. However, little research has been done to inform interventions for reducing intentional self-harm.

METHODS

Semistructured interviews were conducted with 28 U.S. veterans who sought emergency care from the Veterans Health Administration between 2021 and 2023 to explore veterans' perspectives on medication-related interventions, including opinions on intervention components (e.g., medication return envelopes). Matrix analysis was used to aggregate data into categories, which were predefined by using constructs from the health belief model (e.g., perceived benefits).

RESULTS

The participating veterans generally endorsed interventions as acceptable and were particularly supportive of distributing medication return envelopes. However, they often conceptualized these efforts as steps to prevent unintentional overdose or theft-not necessarily to prevent suicide-and rarely indicated that such interventions were appropriate for themselves. Across the interviews, participants identified important facilitators to care, such as ensuring that interventions were convenient and accounted for the perceived cost of disposing medications. Perspectives on engaging family or friends in interventions were mixed. The importance of the interventions was more readily acknowledged among participants with previous opioid use exposure-perspectives that appeared to stem from lived experiences.

CONCLUSIONS

This study contributes important foundational knowledge that can be used to inform research and clinical initiatives aimed at preventing medication- and drug-related suicides.

Impact of Family Functioning on Adolescent Materialism and Egocentrism in Mainland China: Positive Youth Development Attributes as a Mediator

Although adolescent materialism and egocentrism are growing problems in Chinese societies, there are very few studies investigating their predictors and related mediators. Longitudinal studies in this area are also sparse. Based on a short-term longitudinal study (n = 4981), we assessed the impact of family functioning on materialism and egocentrism of Chinese adolescents, with positive youth development attributes as a hypothesized mediating factor. Results showed that family functioning positively predicted positive youth development attributes but negatively predicted adolescent materialism and egocentrism; positive youth development attributes also negatively predicted adolescent materialism and egocentrism. Mediational analyses showed that positive youth development attributes mediated the impact of family functioning on adolescent materialism and egocentrism. The theoretical and methodological advances of the study are discussed.

Willingness to Receive COVID-19 Booster Vaccine: Associations between Green-Pass, Social Media Information, Anti-Vax Beliefs, and Emotional Balance

The aims of the present investigation were (i) to determine psychological relapses of COVID-19 booster vaccine; (ii) to identify the determining factors affecting willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccine; and (iii) to study the relationship among emotional characteristics (anxiety, stress, depression, optimism), social media information, and the mandatory political choices (i.e., green-pass) in Croatian people. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted for 1003 participants (median age: 40 years) from Croatia during December 2021. Results showed a significant association between vaccinated and unvaccinated participants in all sociodemographic variables, except for gender (p = 0.905). For psychological variables, significant differences were found only for levels of optimism (p < 0.001). People with a postgraduate degree (OR: 2.25, [1.14−4.46], p = 0.020) and PhD (OR: 1.97, [95% CI: 1.01−3.52], p = 0.021) had higher odds of being vaccinated than participants with high school diplomas. Additionally, participants seeking information on TV and radio (OR: 2.35, [1.71−3.23], p < 0.001) or from general practitioner (OR: 2.53, [1.78−3.61], p < 0.001) had higher odds of being vaccinated. Conversely, participants seeking information on social networks (OR: 0.36, [0.27−0.49], p < 0.001), general internet/blogs forums (OR: 0.34, [0.22−0.52], p < 0.001), and from friends or acquaintances (OR: 0.66, [0.48−0.91], p = 0.011) had lower odds of being vaccinated. Additionally, results showed that information policies have failed to fully convince the population to vaccinate and that depression (p = 0.491), anxiety (p = 0.220), and stress (p = 0.521) were not determining factors leading to the decision to receive COVID-19 vaccine. Most of the vaccinated participants perceived the green-pass as potentially useful. In contrast, most unvaccinated participants believed that the green-pass is a form of discrimination and not useful (88%). Further and broader research into possible reasons for continuing or undertaking vaccination is needed. It is recommended to introduce a measure of conformism that represents a change of attitude, belief, or behavior in a narrower sense.