Ageing and Covid-19

This volume presents a range of research approaches to the exploration of ageing during a pandemic situation. One of the first collections of its kind, it offers an array of studies employing research methodologies that lend themselves to replication in similar contexts by those seeking to understand the effects of epidemics on older people. Thematically organised, it shows how to reconcile qualitative and quantitative approaches, thus rendering them complementary, bringing together studies from around the world to offer an international perspective on ageing as it relates to an unprecedented epidemiological phenomenon. As such, it will appeal to researchers in the field of gerontology, as well as sociologists of medicine and clinicians seeking to understand the disruptive effects of the recent coronavirus outbreak on later life

College of Health and Public Affairs annual report, 1996-1997

University of Central Florida College of Health and Public Affairs Annual Report, 1996-1997

Health Sciences postgraduate handbook

1997 postgraduate handbook for the faculty of Health Science

Health Sciences postgraduate handbook

1998 postgraduate handbook for the faculty of Health Science

Health Sciences postgraduate handbook

1998 postgraduate handbook for the faculty of Health Science

'Not in my backyard' : Public attitudes towards mental illness and people with mental illness living in sweden

BACKGROUND Several studies reveal that inadequate knowledge exist regarding mental illness among the general population as well as stigmatizing attitudes towards persons suffering from a mental illness. The public s attitudes towards mental illness and people with mental illness can be summarised with the inference that the majority consider people with mental illness are in need of help and entitled to receive support; thus support the idea of social integration of individuals with mental illness. However, negative and stigmatizing attitudes towards persons with serious mental illness still present one main obstacle to overcome in order to facilitate social integration. AIM The overall aims of this thesis were 1) to explore, analyze and describe the public s opinions and attitudes towards mental illness in general and towards persons with a serious mental illness in particular, 2) to analyze the respondents attitudes in relation to their socio-economic background. An additional aim was to evaluate the reliability of an existing questionnaire; Community Attitudes Towards Mental Illness (CAMI), and subsequently adapt and develop the questionnaire in accordance with Swedish conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS In sub-study I, nine psychiatric nurses were interviewed. Two men and seven women participated in the study. The method of interviewing and analysis was inspired by the constant comparative method of grounded theory . In sub-study II, nine psychiatric nurses were interviewed. Two men and seven women participated in the study and a qualitative content analysis was used for the analysis. In sub-study III, the English version of CAMI was translated into Swedish, renamed CAMI-S , and distributed to all nursing students who were in their second year of studies at three universities situated within large to mid-size cities in Sweden (n = 421). In sub-study IV, the CAMI-S questionnaire was supplemented with 9 items concerning the respondents intention to interact with a person with a mental illness and then renamed New CAMI-S . 5.000 questionnaires were sent out. The population consisted of a sample of Swedish residents aged 18-85 years. The sampling frame was based on the Register of Total Population (RTP) and consisted of all registered residents in Sweden aged 18-85 years. The number of individuals within the sampling frame included 7.055 235 people. An independent random sample, consisting of 5.000 people was extracted from the sampling frame; 2.391 (47.9%) of the 5.000 distributed questionnaires, were returned and analyzed. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS FROM EACH SUB-STUDY In sub-study I, the process of behaving as a nurse or not was identified as a core category. Four subcategories were identified: receiving involuntary information , to take action or not , behaving as a mediator in the neighbourhood and the freedom of choice . The findings show that psychiatric nurses with professional knowledge about mental illness have moral concerns about their role as nurses during their leisure time. In sub-study II, the nurses perceived that personal contact between the neighbour and the mentally ill person was one essential way to reduce fear of the mentally ill person. They viewed themselves as a link between the mentally ill person and other neighbours. Without the personal contact between the mentally ill person and the neighbours, there may be a risk that integration will fail, no matter how excellent the supported dwelling is framed. In sub-study III, a corrected inter-item-total correlation including all the 40 original statements, revealed a weak loading on 20 items and therefore was excluded. A factor analysis of the 20 items showed moderate to high loading, revealing the collected data could be adequately represented by extraction of three factors identified and labelled as; Open-minded and Pro-Integration, Fear and Avoidance and Community Mental Health Ideology. In sub-study IV, a majority of the respondents displayed moderately positive attitudes. Respondents within the age group 31-50 years, appear to have increased sympathetic attitudes towards persons with mental illness. Additionally; it is worth noting, that in contrary to previous research, results showed that persons with a lower level of education, tend to be more sympathetic towards persons with mental illness than persons with a high level of education. CONCLUSIONS A summary interpretation of the main findings contained within this thesis, reinforces the assumption that negative attitudes towards people with mental illness living in Sweden exists. This suggests that persons with mental illness frequently encounter stigmatizing attitudes in their surroundings as well as from mental health professionals. The present thesis also demonstrates that additional knowledge is not the only way to eliminate prejudices against mental illness and mentally ill people. Mental health professionals with knowledge also display stigmatizing attitudes, which implies that they, as well as other citizens, must examine their own moral attitudes, improve their ability to interact with persons with mental illness and become more tolerant in order to prevent alienation

The impact of information and communication technology on family carers of older people and professionals in Sweden

Government policy in Sweden, as in other developed countries, pays increasing attention as to how best to support the family carers of older people. New and innovative means of support, such as information and communication technology, are emerging. This paper explores the perceived benefits of, and barriers to, information technology as a means of supporting family carers of older people. Following a brief overview of the care-giving literature, with particular reference to the Swedish context, interview and questionnaire data collected from 34 families who took part in the Swedish ACTION project are used to explore the role of user-friendly information and communication technology to inform and enable family carers of older people to exercise choice, to care more effectively and to work in partnership with professionals. Interview data from two groups of professionals that utilised ACTION are also examined to throw light on its potential benefits for both carers and professionals. Consideration is given to the barriers to using information technology, and to identifying those carers most likely to benefit. Areas for further development are the need for practitioners' education and a wider range of programmes to address carers' diverse needs. Clearly, lessons learned from the Swedish project have wider relevance, given that new forms of support are being developed in most technically advanced countries

Exploring the Impact of Mental Health Education on Adolescents’ Perceptions About Mental Health and Mental Illness. Improving community health

The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of mental health and mental illness as well as the perceptions towards people with mental illness among adolescents, and further to examine the impact that a mental health educational intervention has on these perceptions. The review of the literature revealed a small number of publications on mental health educational interventions among adolescents which aimed at increasing knowledge and affecting attitudes towards mental illness with positive results. Fifty nine pupils (13-16 years old) from two randomly selected secondary schools around Athens, Greece, participated in this study. These schools were randomly selected as the experimental group (n=28) which participated in the mental health educational intervention, and the comparison group (n=31), which did not receive any intervention. Data were collected using individual interviews with open-ended questions, drawings and a questionnaire (Opinions about Mental Illness - O.M.I. scale). The participants described mental health and mental illness before and after the intervention, using the same expressions for both terms. Among the experimental group, changes were seen within the same expressions after the intervention, although some descriptions did not change. However, after the intervention, participants in the experimental group did not confuse mental health with mental illness and they also included specific diagnostic examples or stated that mental illness can happen to anyone and it can be managed. Moreover, they expressed positive attitudes towards mentally ill people, which they had not done before the intervention. The analysis of the drawings before the intervention showed that mentally ill persons were drawn similarly in both groups. After the intervention, the drawings of the participants in the experimental group changed, including fewer negative elements, while the drawings of the comparison group did not change. Regarding the results on the O.M.I. scale, it was found that the score on the Social Discrimination factor significantly decreased from pre-test to post-test in both study groups. The experimental group had higher levels on Social Discrimination at pre-test compared to the comparison group, but this difference was not significant at post-test. No significant changes were found for the Social Restriction factor for either study group. Scores of the Social Care and Social Integration factors increased significantly only in the intervention group. Overall, the results of this study indicate that the mental health educational intervention had a positive impact on the perceptions about mental health and mental illness among adolescents, and (mental) health professionals can use these results for implementing similar interventions and further research.Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli tutkia miten mielenterveys ja mielisairaudet mielletään sekä sitä, miten nuoret suhtautuvat ihmisiin, joilla on mielisairaus, ja tutkia lisäksi mielenterveyteen liittyvän opetuksen vaikutusta näihin käsityksiin. Kirjallisuuskatsauksesta ilmeni pieni määrä julkaisuja, jotka käsittelivät nuorille kohdennettua mielenterveyttä koskevaa opetusta, jolla pyrittiin vaikuttamaan mielisairauksien tuntemukseen ja asenteisiin positiivisin tuloksin. Tutkimukseen osallistui 59 oppilasta ikähaarukassa 13–16 kahdesta satunnaisesti valitusta peruskoulusta Ateenan (Kreikka) alueelta. Koulut oli valittu satunnaisesti tutkimusryhmäksi, joka muodostui 28 oppilaasta, jotka osallistuivat mielenterveysasioiden opetukseen, ja 31 osallistujan vertailuryhmästä, joka ei saanut opetusta mielenterveysasioista. Tietoa kerättiin yksittäisillä haastatteluilla, joihin sisältyi avoimia kysymyksiä, piirroksia ja kyselylomake. Osallistujat kuvasivat mielenterveyttä ja mielisairautta ennen opetusta ja sen jälkeen käyttäen molemmissa samoja ilmaisuja. Vaikka koeryhmässä nähtiin muutoksia samoissa ilmaisuissa opetuksen jälkeen, oli myös kuvauksia, jotka eivät olleet muuttuneet. Opetuksen jälkeen koeryhmään osallistuneet eivät kuitenkaan sekoittaneet keskenään mielenterveyttä ja mielisairautta ja he myös kertoivat erityisiä esimerkkejä diagnooseista tai totesivat mielisairautta voivan ilmetä kenellä tahansa ja että sitä voidaan hoitaa. Heidän asenteensa mielenterveyspotilaisiin oli positiivinen, toisin kuin ennen opetusta. Ennen opetusta tehtyjen piirustusten analyysistä ilmeni, että mielenterveyspotilaat kuvattiin samalla tavalla molemmissa ryhmissä. Opetuksen jälkeen koeryhmään osallistuneiden piirustukset muuttuivat ja niissä oli vähemmän negatiivisia elementtejä, mutta vertailuryhmän piirustuksissa ei sitä vastoin tapahtunut muutosta. O.M.I. mielipidemittarin tuloksista selvisi, että sosiaalisen syrjintätekijän (Social Discrimination factor) tulos kasvoi merkittävästi koetta edeltäneestä tilanteesta testin jälkeiseen tilanteeseen verrattuna molemmissa tutkimusryhmissä, kun taas koeryhmässä sosiaalisen syrjinnän tasot olivat korkeampia ennen koetta verrattuna vertailuryhmään, mutta tämä ero ei ollut tilastollisesti merkitsevä. Sosiaalisen rajoitustekijän (Social Restriction factor) osalta ei löytynyt merkittäviä muutoksia kummassakaan tutkimusryhmässä. Sosiaalista sopeutumista (Social Care and Social Integration factors) koskeva tulos kasvoi merkittävästi ainoastaan opetusta saaneessa ryhmässä. Yleisesti tämän tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että mielenterveyteen liittyvä opetus vaikutti positiivisesti siihen, miten nuoret mieltävät mielenterveyden ja mielisairauden ja (mielen)terveysalan ammattilaiset voivat käyttää tuloksia toteuttaessaan vastaavia toimenpiteitä ja lisätutkimuksia.Ο σκοπός της παρούσας μελέτης ήταν να διερευνήσει τις αντιλήψεις των εφήβων για την ψυχική υγεία και την ψυχική νόσο, καθώς και για τα άτομα με ψυχική νόσο, και περαιτέρω να εξετάσει την επίδραση μίας παρέμβασης αγωγής ψυχικής υγείας σε αυτές τις αντιλήψεις. Η βιβλιογραφική ανασκόπηση εντόπισε ένα μικρό αριθμό δημοσιεύσεων σχετικά με παρεμβάσεις αγωγής ψυχικής υγείας σε έφηβους με στόχο να επηρεάσουν τις γνώσεις και τις στάσεις απέναντι στην ψυχική νόσο. Στην μελέτη αυτή συμμετείχαν 59 μαθητές ηλικίας 13-16 ετών από δύο τυχαία επιλεγμένα σχολεία της δευτεροβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης της Αθήνας. Η ομάδα παρέμβασης (28 μαθητές) συμμετείχε στην αγωγή ψυχικής υγείας, ενώ η ομάδα σύγκρισης (31 μαθητές) δεν συμμετείχε σε καμία παρέμβαση αγωγής υγείας. Τα δεδομένα συλλέχθηκαν μέσω ατομικών συνεντεύξεων με ανοιχτού τύπου ερωτήσεις, ζωγραφιές και ένα ερωτηματολόγιο (Κλίμακα για τις Στάσεις για την Ψυχική Ασθένεια – O.M.I. scale). Οι συμμετέχοντες περιέγραψαν την ψυχική υγεία και την ψυχική νόσο, πριν και μετά την παρέμβαση, χρησιμοποιώντας τις ίδιες εκφράσεις για τους δύο όρους. Μετά την παρέμβαση, μεταξύ των συμμετεχόντων της ομάδας παρέμβασης υπήρξαν αλλαγές στις περιγραφές, ενώ υπάρχουν και περιγραφές οι οποίες δεν άλλαξαν. Επιπλέον, η σύγχυση της ψυχικής υγείας με την ψυχική νόσο δεν υπάρχει στους συμμετέχοντες της ομάδας παρέμβασης, οι οποίοι επίσης ανέφεραν διαγνώσεις, ότι η ψυχική νόσος αφορά στον καθένα και μπορεί να αντιμετωπιστεί, εκφράζοντας θετικές στάσεις απέναντι στα άτομα με ψυχικές ασθένειες. Οι ψυχικά ασθενείς παρουσιάζονται αρχικά ομοίως στις ζωγραφιές και των δύο ομάδων. Μετά την παρέμβαση, οι ζωγραφιές των συμμετεχόντων στην ομάδα παρέμβασης είχαν αλλαγές, παρουσιάζοντας λιγότερα αρνητικά στοιχεία, ενώ οι ζωγραφιές της ομάδας σύγκρισης δεν άλλαξαν. Όσον αφορά στα αποτελέσματα της κλίμακας «O.M.I.», βρέθηκε ότι οι τιμές του παράγοντα Κοινωνική Διάκριση μειώθηκαν σημαντικά στην β’ φάση και στις δύο ομάδες. Δεν παρατηρήθηκαν σημαντικές αλλαγές για τον παράγοντα Κοινωνικός Περιορισμός και για τις δύο ομάδες μελέτης. Οι τιμές των παραγόντων Κοινωνική Φροντίδα και Κοινωνική Ενσωμάτωση είχαν σημαντική αύξηση μόνο στην ομάδα παρέμβασης. Συμπερασματικά, τα αποτελέσματα αυτής της μελέτης δείχνουν ότι η παρέμβαση αγωγής ψυχικής υγείας είχε θετικό αντίκτυπο στις αντιλήψεις σχετικά με την ψυχική υγεία και την ψυχική νόσο μεταξύ των εφήβων. Οι επαγγελματίες (ψυχικής) υγείας μπορούν να χρησιμοποιήσουν τα αποτελέσματα αυτά για την εφαρμογή παρόμοιων παρεμβάσεων και την εκπόνηση περαιτέρω μελετών.Siirretty Doriast

Towards Ethical Artificial Intelligence in Universities: ChatGPT, Culture, and Mental Health Stigmas in Asian Higher Education Post COVID-19

Mental health can be interpreted as a social taboo in Asia, ensuring that students with mental health stigmas (SWMHS) face complex educational journeys that impact their wellbeing. This article provides a conceptual interdisciplinary commentary that illustrates how in Asian higher education (HE) settings, the psychosocial phenomena of face culture, a sociolinguistic blend of high-context power relations, sense-making, and cultural capital, defines human-to-human (HTH) dialogue. It suggests that human-to-computer-interaction (HCI) through artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as ChatGPT, could improve university wellbeing strategies in Asia. The article situates AI discussion into the sociolinguistic features of face culture in Thailand and China through an ethnographic postmodernist lens. The article concludes with a modest conceptual model, considering cultural dimensions and student wellbeing in universities, alongside the ethical implications of using AI to improve mental health in post COVID-19 Asian HE

Health Sciences postgraduate handbook

2000 postgraduate handbook for the faculty of Health Science