Emotional, coping factors and personality traits that influenced alcohol consumption in Romanian students during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

During the COVID-19 pandemic, after 3 months from the installation of the state of emergency on the territory of Romania, data were collected from 677 students and master's students, to explore the problematic alcohol consumption (AC).

METHODS

The evaluation was done with: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales, Strategic Coping Approach Scale and The Freiburg Personality Inventory. The statistical methods used were linear regression with bootstrap procedure, Spearman's rank correlation, and the Mann-Whitney U test.

RESULTS

More than half were affected by depression or anxiety of moderate to extremely severe intensity. The prevalence of problematic alcohol consumption was low: (Hazardous and Extremely Hazardous (2.3) and Medium Risk (10.2). Early onset increases the subsequent risk of problematic AC, compared to women, men recorded a higher AC (p <.01). Anxiety, antisocial action, personality traits Aggressiveness and Somatic complaints had the effect of increasing the alcohol consumption score (p <.01). Significant but weak positive correlations between AC on one hand, and depression, anxiety, stress and antisocial action on the other hand were found (p <.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Probably the prevalence of AC was low as a result of the fact that most respondents were studying in the field of health promotion and as a result of the closure of entertainment venues. This study advocates for the education of youngsters to clearly express their opinions without violating the boundaries of others' feelings (assertive action) and to act prudently in dangerous or uncertain situations (cautious action) since these coping mechanisms were not associated with problematic alcohol consumption. The promotion of positive, achievement-oriented, life attitudes is equally important, as these characteristics of the Life Satisfaction personality dimensions were also found as non-determinants of alcohol-induced problems. The association of problematic AC with antisocial actions as a coping mechanism and high scores on Aggressiveness calls for interventions to educate the younger generation how to acquire and adopt healthy mechanisms to control tensions without resorting to alcohol consumption, more so as the two variables reinforce each other. Drinking as a means of gaining courage must be carefully reconsidered since anxiety generally hits back, often in increased levels.

Risk factors for suicidal behavior: A Romanian mixed methods study

OBJECTIVES

This study had two purposes: to explore the main socio-demographic and medical characteristics of the psychiatric patients with a history of suicidal behavior, and to identify the main risk factors underlying the suicidal ideation and acts among psychiatric patients, in the light of two recent theories of suicidal behavior.

METHODS

The study is based on a mixed methodological design. During 2019 to 2021, 65 hospitalized psychiatric patients, who committed at least one non-lethal suicide attempt, were investigated using a questionnaire a scales for data collection. Medical records were used to gather data about certain socio-demographic characteristics and the health status of the respondents. Patients also participated in a narrative interview aimed at disclosing their subjective experiences about their past suicidal behavior.

RESULTS

The typical psychiatric patient with a history of suicidal behavior, as highlighted by the quantitative analysis, portraits a young old male from an urban environment, childless, educated, having experienced employment problems, being involved in religious activities. The clinical picture of the patient with suicidal antecedents included a moderate or severe level of depression, the presence of socio-emotional loneliness, the manifestation of frequent and long episodes of suicidal ideation, and the intention of committing suicide in order to stop the pain, whose acts resulted in minor injuries. Findings from the qualitative data revealed four major risk factors for the non-lethal suicidal attempts: family disruptions and social problems; economic burdens; a mixture of psychiatric pathologies; and, to a lesser extent, somatic pathologies.

CONCLUSION

This study is the first to explore the triggers of suicide acts conducted in a clinical environment in the Balkan region. Implications of the pandemic are also discussed. The findings are useful for designing prevention strategies based on individual psychotherapy and therapeutic or support groups, addressing the main risk factors behind the suicidal ideation and gestures.

Determinants of Suicide Ideation in the Romanian Population

BACKGROUND

Suicide ideation and behaviors are directly linked to the risk of death by suicide. In Romania, as well as worldwide, increased suicide rates were observed in the recent past, more so in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of psychosocial factors, quality of life (QOL), and loneliness dimensions and adverse life antecedents on suicide ideation (SI) and prolonged sadness (PS).

METHODS

This cross-sectional quantitative research study used a CATI data gathering method to investigate 1102 randomly selected individuals over 18 years of age regarding various determinants of SI and PS. Data were collected in June 2021. Descriptive, inferential, and multivariate statistics were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

SI was negatively correlated with all the assessed psychosocial factors, more significantly with family relationships, wealth, health, social relationships, and affective life. Stronger correlations were observed when investigating the state of prolonged sadness, sex, and affective lives along with health and income, which were more influential. SI was negatively correlated with QOL and positively correlated with adverse life events and total loneliness scores. Lesser educated youngsters with reduced overall happiness and a history of depression, self-harm, and trauma were at greater risk of developing SI.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first national study exploring the suicide ideation and prolonged sadness in relation to psychosocial factors, quality of life, and adverse life events. These results have important implications for suicide prevention programs, which should be designed in accordance with similar studies.

Learning Effectiveness of Social Work Methods With Groups, in Online and Face-to-Face Contexts

During the last three decades, thousands of highly qualified social workers who graduated from Romanian universities were employed in the public systems of social work of the European Union. Social group work is studied as a compulsory discipline for undergraduate students. The major focus of our study was the effectiveness of the learning of Social Work Methods with Groups (SWMG) of students, using workshops in a full-time undergraduate program from Romania. We were interested in finding out the perceptions of students about their learning processes and outcomes in the context of teaching the same discipline exclusively in the online medium, due to the pandemic, and in the face-to-face environment via traditional classroom instruction. This study had a mainly quantitative design, covering two academic years between 2018 and 2020 for the two cohorts of social work students. The core analysis was focused on the activities of students at the SWMG laboratories: 50 students in 2020 and 92 students in 2019. Descriptive, inferential statistics and thematic content analysis were applied to two types of deliverables of students: the self-assessment sheet and the group plan. The results of our study showed that training of cognitive and self-awareness skills prevailed among the students who learned online in 2020, while the acquisition of interpersonal skills was reported at a significantly higher level by students who learned in the face-to-face medium in 2019. The students in the traditional classrooms favoured the training of other professional skills, too, like problem-solving skills. However, students who studied exclusively online attributed a significantly greater overall usefulness of SWMG workshops for professional practise than their peers who participated in the face-to-face laboratories. A remarkable result was that more therapeutic and support groups were preferred in the online environment, maybe related to the concerns generated by the pandemic. Remote education forced most students to return to their original places of residence, mostly in the countryside and brought negative psychological effects caused by social isolation due to the pandemic. Remote learning is not the most desirable educational option. Students gain most from blended teaching-learning vehicles: face-to-face and online medium.