Anti-racism and substance use treatment: Addiction doesn’t discriminate, but, do we?

Contemporary racism in the United States contributes to health, mental health, and substance use disorder (SUD) disparities among People of Color (POC) compared with White individuals. Despite entering into substance use treatment with a greater severity of SUD and related consequences, POC experience more barriers to treatment engagement, completion, and satisfaction than their White counterparts. As substance use treatment counselors are socialized within institutions of systemic racism, it is important to examine their positioning on racism in relation to their capacity for culturally competent care. This article articulates a need to implement an antiracist framework for substance use treatment

Senior Recital: Sara Knapp, flute

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Music Education. Ms. Knapp studies flute with Robert Cronin.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1136/thumbnail.jp

Cost of depression in the workplace across eight diverse countries – collectively US$250 billion

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Previous research has shown that by far the greatest contributor to the overall economic impact of depression is loss in productivity; including both increased absenteeism and presenteeism-related costs in the workplace. However, there is very little research on the costs of depression outside of Western countries and high-income countries. Using data from a survey of 8,000 employees across 8 countries spanning diverse cultures and levels of economic development, we found that workplace depression collectively costs almost US$250 billion. When analysing data from Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, South Africa and the USA, we found that between 0.1% and 4.9% of a country’s GDP was lost due to absenteeism and presenteeism in the workplace

The role of managers in promoting social acceptance among people with depression in the workplace

Our research highlights the important role that managers and organisations can play by creating supportive working environments that promote social acceptance for employees with depression. By doing so, employees will feel more comfortable in discussing any potential mental health issues early on. Our findings suggest that some responses, such as flexible working hours, may be helpful but are not necessarily adequate, and also emphasise the importance of support and openness of managers in addition to flexible working hours

Global patterns of workplace productivity for people with depression: absenteeism and presenteeism costs across eight diverse countries

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Research suggests that by far, the greatest contributor to the overall economic impact of depression is loss in productivity; however, there is very little research on the costs of depression outside of Western high-income countries. Thus, this study examines the impact of depression on workplace productivity across eight diverse countries

How best to mobilise social support to improve children and young people’s loneliness

Social support is a well-recognised protective factor for children’s mental health. Whilst many interventions exist that seek to mobilise social support to improve children’s mental health, not much is known about how to best do this. Annette Bauer, Madeleine Stevens, Martin Knapp, and Sara Evans-Lacko report key findings of a systematic review of the literature on approaches for preventing and reducing mental health problems among children and young adults

Is manager support related to workplace productivity for people with depression: a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey from 15 countries

Objectives To examine variations in manager reactions and support for people with depression and to investigate how these reactions are related to (1) absenteeism and (2) presenteeism due to depression among employees with self-reported depression across 15 diverse countries. Design Secondary data analysis of cross-sectional survey data. Setting 15 countries, diverse in geographical region and gross domestic product (GDP): Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the USA. Participants 16 018 employees and managers (approximately 1000 per country). Primary and secondary outcome measures We assessed level of absenteeism as measured by number of days taken off work because of depression and presenteeism score. Results On average, living in a country with a greater prevalence of managers saying that they avoided talking to the employee about depression was associated with employees with depression taking more days off work (B 4.13, 95% CI 1.68 to 6.57). On average, living in a country with a higher GDP was marginally associated with employees with depression taking more days off of work (p=0.09). On average, living in a country with a greater prevalence of managers actively offering help to employees with depression was associated with higher levels of presenteeism (B 7.08, 95% CI 6.59 to 7.58). Higher country GDP was associated with greater presenteeism among employees with depression (B 3.09, 95% CI 2.31 to 3.88). Conclusions Manager reactions were at least as important as country financial resources. When controlling for country GDP, working in an environment where managers felt comfortable to offer help and support to the employee rather than avoid them was independently associated with less absenteeism and more presenteeism

Childhood bullying victimisation is associated with use of mental health services over five decades: a longitudinal nationally-representative cohort study

Background: Research supports robust associations between childhood bullying victimisation and mental health problems in childhood/adolescence and emerging evidence shows the impact can persist into adulthood. We examined the impact of bullying victimisation on mental health service use from childhood to midlife. Methods: We performed secondary analysis using the National Child Development Study, the 1958 British Birth Cohort study. We conducted analyses on 9,242 participants with complete data on childhood bullying victimisation and service use at midlife. We used multivariable logistic regression models to examine associations between childhood bullying victimisation and mental health service use ages 16, 23, 33, 42 and 50. We estimated incidence and persistence of mental health service use over time to age 50. Results: Compared to participants who were not bullied in childhood, those who were frequently bullied were more likely to use mental health services in childhood and adolescence (OR: 2.53, 95% CI: 1.88, 3.40), and also in midlife (OR: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.55). Disparity in service use associated with childhood bullying victimisation was accounted for by both incident service use through to age 33 by a sub-group of participants, and by persistent use up to midlife. Conclusions: Childhood bullying victimisation adds to the pressure on an already stretched health care system. Policy and practice efforts providing support for victims of bullying could help contain public sector costs. Given constrained budgets and the long-term mental health impact on victims of bullying, early prevention strategies could be effective at limiting both individual distress and later costs

Mobilising social support to improve mental health for children and adolescents: a systematic review using principles of realist synthesis

Social support is a well-recognised protective factor for children’s mental health. Whilst many interventions exist that seek to mobilise social support to improve children’s mental health, not much is known about how to best do this. We sought to generate knowledge about the ways in which social support can be mobilised to improve children’s mental health. We conducted a systematic review, which followed the principles of a realist synthesis. The following databases were searched: PubMed, CINAHL, Ovid MEDLINE, PsychINFO, EMBASE, Child and Adolescent Studies, EconLit and SocINDEX. Studies were included if the age of participants was between 0 and 18 years and they evaluated or described programme theories of interventions that sought to improve children’s mental health by mobilising social support. Relevance and quality of studies were assessed, and data were extracted and analysed narratively. Thirty-three articles were included. Studies varied substantially with regard to the detail in which they described the processes of mobilising social support and expected mechanisms to improve children’s mental health. Those that provided this detail showed the following: Intervention components included explaining the benefits of social support and relationships to families and modelling friendly relationships to improve social skills. Pathways to improved outcomes reflected bi-directional and dynamic relationships between social support and mental health, and complex and long-term processes of establishing relationship qualities such as trust and reciprocity. Parents’ ability to mobilise social support for themselves and on behalf of children was assumed to impact on their children’s mental health, and (future) ability to mobilise social support. Although interventions were considered affordable, some required substantial human and financial resources from existing systems. Mobilising social support for vulnerable children can be a complex process that requires careful planning, and theory-informed evaluations can have an important role in increasing knowledge about how to best address social support and loneliness in children

Automated Determination of [Fe/H] and [C/Fe] from Low-Resolution Spectroscopy

We develop an automated spectral synthesis technique for the estimation of metallicities ([Fe/H]) and carbon abundances ([C/Fe]) for metal-poor stars, including carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars, for which other methods may prove insufficient. This technique, autoMOOG, is designed to operate on relatively strong features visible in even low- to medium-resolution spectra, yielding results comparable to much more telescope-intensive high-resolution studies. We validate this method by comparison with 913 stars which have existing high-resolution and low- to medium-resolution to medium-resolution spectra, and that cover a wide range of stellar parameters. We find that at low metallicities ([Fe/H] < -2.0), we successfully recover both the metallicity and carbon abundance, where possible, with an accuracy of ~ 0.20 dex. At higher metallicities, due to issues of continuum placement in spectral normalization done prior to the running of autoMOOG, a general underestimate of the overall metallicity of a star is seen, although the carbon abundance is still successfully recovered. As a result, this method is only recommended for use on samples of stars of known sufficiently low metallicity. For these low-metallicity stars, however, autoMOOG performs much more consistently and quickly than similar, existing techniques, which should allow for analyses of large samples of metal-poor stars in the near future. Steps to improve and correct the continuum placement difficulties are being pursued.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures; accepted for publication in A