1
|
Luitel NP, Rimal D, Eleftheriou G, Rose-Clarke K, Nayaju S, Gautam K, Pant SB, Devkota N, Rana S, Chaudhary JM, Gurung BS, Åhs JW, Carvajal-Velez L, Kohrt BA. Translation, cultural adaptation and validation of Patient Health Questionnaire and generalized anxiety disorder among adolescents in Nepal. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 2024; 18:74. [PMID: 38898474 PMCID: PMC11188246 DOI: 10.1186/s13034-024-00763-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Depression and anxiety are significant contributors to the global burden of disease among young people. Accurate data on the prevalence of these conditions are crucial for the equitable distribution of resources for planning and implementing effective programs. This study aimed to culturally adapt and validate data collection tools for measuring depression and anxiety at the population level. METHODS The study was conducted in Kathmandu, Nepal, a diverse city with multiple ethnicities, languages, and cultures. Ten focus group discussions with 56 participants and 25 cognitive interviews were conducted to inform adaptations of the Patient Health Questionnaire adapted for Adolescents (PHQ-A) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7). To validate the tools, a cross-sectional survey of 413 adolescents (aged 12-19) was conducted in three municipalities of Kathmandu district. Trained clinical psychologists administered the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS-DSM 5 version) to survey participants. RESULTS A number of cultural adaptations were required, such as changing statements into questions, using a visual scale (glass scale) to maintain uniformity in responses, and including a time frame at the beginning of each item. For younger adolescents aged 12 to 14 years, a PHQ-A cut-off of > = 13 had a sensitivity of 0.93, specificity of 0.80, positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.33, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.99. For older adolescents aged 15-19, a cut-off of > = 11 had a sensitivity of 0.89, specificity of 0.70, PPV of 0.32, and NPV of 0.97. For GAD-7, a cut-off of > = 8 had a sensitivity of 0.70 and specificity of 0.67 for younger adolescents and 0.71 for older adolescents, with a PPV of 0.39 and NPV of 0.89. The individual symptom means of both PHQ-A and GAD-7 items showed moderate ability to discriminate between adolescents with and without depression and anxiety. CONCLUSION The PHQ-A and GAD-7 demonstrate fair psychometric properties for screening depression but performed poorly for anxiety, with high rates of false positives. Even when using clinically validated cut-offs, population prevalence rates would be inflated by 2-4 fold with these tools, requiring adjustment when interpreting epidemiological findings.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nagendra P Luitel
- Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Research Department, Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Nepal, Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal.
- Center for Global Mental Health Equity, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Health, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C, USA.
| | - Damodar Rimal
- Research Department, Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Nepal, Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Georgia Eleftheriou
- Center for Global Mental Health Equity, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Health, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C, USA
| | - Kelly Rose-Clarke
- Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Suvash Nayaju
- Research Department, Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Nepal, Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Kamal Gautam
- Research Department, Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Nepal, Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal
- Center for Global Mental Health Equity, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Health, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C, USA
| | - Sagun Ballav Pant
- Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Narmada Devkota
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Kanti Children's Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Shruti Rana
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Kanti Children's Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Jug Maya Chaudhary
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Kanti Children's Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | | | - Jill Witney Åhs
- Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Liliana Carvajal-Velez
- Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring, Data and Analytics Section, UNICEF, New York, New York, USA
| | - Brandon A Kohrt
- Research Department, Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Nepal, Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal
- Center for Global Mental Health Equity, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Health, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Ferrer R, Ali K, Hughes C. Using AI-Based Virtual Companions to Assist Adolescents with Autism in Recognizing and Addressing Cyberbullying. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 24:3875. [PMID: 38931659 PMCID: PMC11207624 DOI: 10.3390/s24123875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2024] [Revised: 06/07/2024] [Accepted: 06/11/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
Social media platforms and online gaming sites play a pervasive role in facilitating peer interaction and social development for adolescents, but they also pose potential threats to health and safety. It is crucial to tackle cyberbullying issues within these platforms to ensure the healthy social development of adolescents. Cyberbullying has been linked to adverse mental health outcomes among adolescents, including anxiety, depression, academic underperformance, and an increased risk of suicide. While cyberbullying is a concern for all adolescents, those with disabilities are particularly susceptible and face a higher risk of being targets of cyberbullying. Our research addresses these challenges by introducing a personalized online virtual companion guided by artificial intelligence (AI). The web-based virtual companion's interactions aim to assist adolescents in detecting cyberbullying. More specifically, an adolescent with ASD watches a cyberbullying scenario in a virtual environment, and the AI virtual companion then asks the adolescent if he/she detected cyberbullying. To inform the virtual companion in real time to know if the adolescent has learned about detecting cyberbullying, we have implemented fast and lightweight cyberbullying detection models employing the T5-small and MobileBERT networks. Our experimental results show that we obtain comparable results to the state-of-the-art methods despite having a compact architecture.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Charles Hughes
- Synthetic Reality Lab, Department of Computer Science, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA; (R.F.); (K.A.)
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Obeng-Okon NAS, Opoku DA, Ayisi-Boateng NK, Osarfo J, Amponsah OKO, Ashilevi J, Agyemang S, Bernard F, Addai-Manu H, Mohammed A. Prevalence and correlates of depression among students in a senior high school in Ghana: A school-based cross-sectional study. SAGE Open Med 2024; 12:20503121241229841. [PMID: 38347848 PMCID: PMC10860490 DOI: 10.1177/20503121241229841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 02/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Objectives Depression is one of the most widely reported mental health issues that affect adolescents globally. However, there is a dearth of data on its prevalence and associated factors among senior high school students in Ghana, since previous studies have focused more on adult populations. This can hinder policies needed to champion mental health and mental health care in senior high schools. Hence, this study sought to assess the prevalence of depression and associated factors among senior high school students in Ghana. Methods An analytical cross-sectional study involving 289 students at the Manya Krobo Senior High School was conducted from December 2022 to February 2023. The students were selected using a two-stage random sampling method. A questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemographics and individual characteristics. The primary outcome was depression, and this was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Summary statistics were presented as means, frequencies, and percentages. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with depression and odds ratios presented with 95% confidence intervals. Statistical significance was considered at p-value < 0.05. Results The mean age of the students was 16.6 (±1.2) with a range of 14-20 years. Over a quarter (26.3%) of the students reported financial difficulties. The prevalence of depression among the students was 68.9%. The factors associated with depression in this study were female sex (adjusted odds ratio: 1.74, 95% confidence interval: 1.01-2.97), age (adjusted odds ratio: 1.41, 95% confidence interval: 1.10-1.81), history of chronic health condition (adjusted odds ratio: 3.74, 95% confidence interval: 1.36-10.25), and financial difficulties (adjusted odds ratio: 2.31, 95% confidence interval: 1.15-4.63). Conclusion This study shows that depression is rife among students at the Manya Krobo Senior High School, Manya Krobo District, Ghana. These findings call for pragmatic interventions such as strengthening counseling units and professional mental health services to ameliorate the impact of depression on the lives of students.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Douglas Aninng Opoku
- School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
- Allen Clinic, Family Healthcare Services, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Nana Kwame Ayisi-Boateng
- School of Medicine and Dentistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
- University Hospital, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Joseph Osarfo
- Department of Community Health, School of Medicine, University of Health and Allied Health Science, Ho, Ghana
| | - Obed Kwabena Offe Amponsah
- Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | | | | | - Frempong Bernard
- School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA
| | - Helena Addai-Manu
- School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | - Aliyu Mohammed
- School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Giri R, Khadka S, Chalise A, Swar K, Paudel S. Depressive symptoms and its associated factors among secondary school adolescents of Birtamod Municipality, Jhapa, Nepal. PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH 2024; 4:e0002826. [PMID: 38241240 PMCID: PMC10798441 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2024]
Abstract
Depression is a rising public health concern affecting adolescents' mental health throughout the world. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence of depressive symptoms and its associated factors among adolescents from urban Nepal. The depressive symptoms among 271 randomly selected secondary school adolescents of Britamod Municipality were assessed using Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression were executed to assess the statistical relationship between potential risk factors and depressive symptoms at 5% level of significance. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 42.8% (95% CI: 37.3-49.1%). Multiple logistic regression revealed that female adolescents (aOR: 2.309, 95% CI: 1.233-4.325), adolescents enrolled in higher grades i.e. 10th grade (aOR: 4.576, 95% CI: 1.482-9.128), studying at private school (aOR: 2.302, 95% CI: 1.184-4.476), not sharing their problems with their friends (aOR: 3.022, 95% CI: 1.477-6.186), presence of perceived academic stress (aOR: 2.388, 95% CI: 1.263-4.518), dissatisfaction with current academic performance (aOR: 2.278, 95% CI: 1.141-4.518), lower perceived family support (aOR: 3.440, 95% CI: 1.276-9.275), and lower self-esteem (aOR: 2.139, 95% CI: 1.061-8.708) had higher odds of experiencing depressive symptoms. There is a high prevalence of depression among Nepalese adolescents. The findings highlight the need for health promotion interventions focusing on mental health awareness, enhancing social support systems, and implementing stress reduction strategies within schools to mitigate the burden of depression among Nepalese adolescents.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rachana Giri
- Department of Public Health, CiST College, Pokhara University, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Santosh Khadka
- Department of Public Health, CiST College, Pokhara University, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Anisha Chalise
- Center for Research on Environment, Health and Population Activities (CREHPA), Lalitpur, Nepal
| | | | - Shishir Paudel
- Department of Public Health, CiST College, Pokhara University, Kathmandu, Nepal
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Aryal R, Rajbanshi M, Pokhrel S, Regmi S, Mali P, Baskota S. Help-seeking behaviour towards anxiety among undergraduate students of Nepal: a web-based cross-sectional study. Ann Med Surg (Lond) 2024; 86:146-152. [PMID: 38222717 PMCID: PMC10783325 DOI: 10.1097/ms9.0000000000001568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Stigma among mental disorders like anxiety has been identified as an important barrier in help-seeking by national policymakers. Anxiety disorders are quite common among college students, and their severity and prevalence are growing. This study aimed to assess help-seeking behavior (HSB) towards anxiety among undergraduate students of Kathmandu University (KU). Methodology A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 undergraduate students. General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) tool was used to assess HSB. Frequencies, percentages, mean, and Standard Deviation were calculated to assess the characteristics of the participants. Factors associated with HSB were examined using Chi-Square test. Pearson correlation was determined to find out the association between professional and informal sources for seeking help. All the tests were carried out at the statistically significant level at a P-value of 0.05. Results The mean (±SD) age was 20.3±1.1 years in this study. This study demonstrated that 36.5 and 17.5% of the participants were extremely likely to seek help from parents and psychiatrists towards anxiety, respectively. Sex (OR=1.5, 95% CI: 1.0-1.3) was significantly associated with parents, education was significantly associated with parents (OR=0.4, 95% CI: 0.2-0.6), and friends (OR=0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.9), meanwhile, ethnicity (OR=0.6, 95% CI: 0.4-0.9), and residence (OR=0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.8) were significantly associated with psychiatrists and psychologists for help-seeking behavior, respectively. Fear of criticism (34.1%) and stigma (20.3%) were the main reasons for not seeking help among the participants. The maximum number of participants (41.5%) preferred to seek help immediately if they ever experienced anxiety. This study showed professional and informal sources were positively correlated with anxiety (rpi=0.3) at a P-value <0.05. Conclusion This study showed that students preferred to seek help from informal sources rather than professional sources. In addition, there is still stigma and fear among students regarding mental health. This study suggests that there is a need to have psychosocial intervention at colleges and educational institutions in order to promote professional help-seeking for any mental disorders including anxiety.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Richa Aryal
- Department of Public Health, Om Health Campus, Purbanchal University, Nepal
| | - Manish Rajbanshi
- Central Department of Public Health, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
| | - Sushma Pokhrel
- Department of Public Health, Om Health Campus, Purbanchal University, Nepal
| | - Sushama Regmi
- Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
| | - Prajita Mali
- Kathmandu University- School of Medical Sciences, Nepal
| | - Swechhya Baskota
- Department of Public Health, Om Health Campus, Purbanchal University, Nepal
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Hua Y, Huang C, Guo Y, Du X, Guo L, Wang W, Lu C, Guo L. Association between academic pressure, NR3C1 gene methylation, and anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents: a nested case-control study. BMC Psychiatry 2023; 23:376. [PMID: 37254074 DOI: 10.1186/s12888-023-04816-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/01/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Academic pressure is a prevalent stressor among Chinese adolescents and is often linked to anxiety symptoms, although the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association between NR3C1 gene methylation, academic pressure, and anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents. METHODS This nested-case control study included 150 adolescents (boys: 38.7%; baseline age: 12-17 years) from a school-based longitudinal study of Chinese adolescents. Cases (n = 50) were defined as those with anxiety symptoms at both baseline and follow-up, while controls (n = 100) were randomly selected from those without anxiety symptoms at both timepoints. The cases and controls were 1:2 matched by age. Academic pressure, anxiety symptoms, and potential covariates were measured using a self-report questionnaire. Peripheral whole blood samples were collected from each participant for the detection of cortisol level (i.e., morning serum cortisol level) and DNA methylation. The methylation analysis included a total of 27 CpG units at the NR3C1 promoter region. RESULTS The final adjusted models showed that students with heavy academic pressure at baseline were at a higher risk of anxiety symptoms at follow-up compared to those with mild academic pressure (β estimate: 6.24 [95% CI: 3.48 ~ 9.01]). After adjusting for covariates, the methylation level of one CpG unit (NR3C1-16 CpG10) in NR3C1 differed significantly between cases and controls (F = 6.188, P = 0.014), and the difference remained significant after correction for multiple testing (P < 0.025). The adjusted regression models showed that moderate (β estimate = 0.010 [95% CI: 0.000 ~ 0.020], P = 0.046) and heavy (β estimate = 0.011 [95% CI: 0.001 ~ 0.020], P = 0.030) academic pressure were significantly associated with the methylation level of NR3C1-16 CpG 10. Further mediation analysis demonstrated that the association of academic pressure and anxiety symptoms was significantly mediated by the methylation of NR3C1-16 CpG 10 (β estimate for indirect effect = 0.11 [95% CI: 0.005 ~ 0.32]; indirect/total effect = 8.3%). CONCLUSION The present study suggests that NR3C1-16 CpG 10 DNA methylation might be a potential mechanism that partially explains the lasting effects of academic pressure on subsequent anxiety symptoms among adolescents. Further studies with larger sample sizes are recommended to replicate this finding.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yilin Hua
- Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Rd 2, 510080, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 510080, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Cuihong Huang
- Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Rd 2, 510080, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 510080, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Yangfeng Guo
- Health Promotion Center for Primary and Secondary Schools, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Xueying Du
- Health Promotion Center for Primary and Secondary Schools, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Liling Guo
- Health Promotion Center for Primary and Secondary Schools, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Wanxin Wang
- Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Rd 2, 510080, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 510080, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Ciyong Lu
- Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Rd 2, 510080, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 510080, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Lan Guo
- Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Rd 2, 510080, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, Sun Yat-sen University, 510080, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
| |
Collapse
|