Association of Antenatal COVID-19-Related Stress with Postpartum Maternal Mental Health and Negative Affectivity in Infants

IMPORTANCE Antenatal stress is a significant risk factor for poor postpartum mental health. The association of pandemic-related stress with postpartum outcomes among mothers and infants is, however, less well understood. OBJECTIVE To examine the association of antenatal COVID-19-related stress with postpartum maternal mental health and infant outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This cohort study was conducted among 318 participants in the COVID-19 Risks Across the Lifespan study, which took place in Australia, the UK, and the US. Eligible participants reported being pregnant at the first assessment wave between May 5 and September 30, 2020, and completed a follow-up assessment between October 28, 2021, and April 24, 2022. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES COVID-19-related stress was assessed with the Pandemic Anxiety Scale (score range, 0-4, with higher scores indicating greater COVID-19-related stress). The 8-item Patient Health Questionnaire (score range, 0-3, with higher scores indicating more frequent symptoms of depression) was used to measure maternal depression at each time point, and the 7-item General Anxiety Disorder scale (score range, 0-3, with higher scores indicating more frequent symptoms of anxiety) was used to measure generalized anxiety at each time point. At follow-up, postpartum distress was assessed with the 10-item Postpartum Distress Measure (score range, 0-3, with higher scores indicating greater postpartum distress), and infant outcomes (negative and positive affectivity and orienting behavior) were captured with the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (score range, 1-7, with higher scores indicating that the infant exhibited that affect/behavior more frequently). RESULTS The study included 318 women (mean [SD] age, 32.0 [4.6] years) from Australia (88 [28%]), the US (94 [30%]), and the UK (136 [43%]). Antenatal COVID-19-related stress was significantly associated with maternal postpartum distress (β = 0.40 [95%CI, 0.28-0.53]), depression (β = 0.32 [95%CI, 0.23-0.41]), and generalized anxiety (β = 0.35 [95%CI, 0.26-0.44]), as well as infant negative affectivity (β = 0.45 [95%CI, 0.14-0.76]). The findings remained consistent across a range of sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The findings of this cohort study suggest that targeting pandemic-related stressors in the antenatal period may improve maternal and infant outcomes. Pregnant individuals should be classified as a vulnerable group during pandemics and should be considered a public health priority, not only in terms of physical health but also mental health

Affect and mental health across the lifespan during a year of the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of emotion regulation strategies and mental flexibility

Online First Publication, May 18, 2023. OnlinePublDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rise in common mental health problems compared to prepandemic levels, especially in young people. Understanding the factors that place young people at risk is critical to guide the response to increased mental health problems. Here we examine whether age-related differences in mental flexibility and frequency of use of emotion regulation strategies partially account for the poorer affect and increased mental health problems reported by younger people during the pandemic. Participants (N= 2,367; 11–100 years) from Australia, the UK, and US were surveyed thrice at 3-month intervals between May 2020 and April 2021. Participants completed measures of emotion regulation, mental flexibility, affect, and mental health. Younger age was associated with less positive (b=0.008, p,.001) and more negative (b=−0.015, p,.001) affect across the first year of the pandemic. Maladaptive emotion regulation partially accounted for age-related variance in negative affect (β=−0.013, p=.020), whereby younger age was associated with more frequent use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, which, in turn, was associated with more negative affect at our third assessment point. More frequent use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies, and in turn, changes in negative affect from our first to our third assessment, partially accounted for age-related variance in mental health problems (β= 0.007, p=.023). Our findings add to the growing literature demonstrating the vulnerability of younger people during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggest that emotion regulation may be a promising target for intervention.Savannah Minihan, Annabel Songco, Elaine Fox, Cecile D. Ladouceur, Louise Mewton, Michelle Moulds, Jennifer H. Pfeifer, Anne-Laura Van Harmelen, and Susanne Schweize

Friends of Henderson Library Newsletter

In This Issue: Save the Date ; Volunteer Opportunities ; Social Networking & Henderson Library ; Ebooks-More than just Kindle or NOOK ; Attention all Eagles Fans ; Online Tutorials Using Adobe® Captivate® ; Henderson Heroes: Spotlight on Employees ; Blogging and Tagging with the Library ; Streamlining Workflow Using Wikis & Google Docs ; Password Now Required for Library Computers ; EagleScholar: Georgia Southern University\u27s Institutional Repository ; BYOM: Bring Your Own Mat...to the Library? ; Center for Research Libraries Membership ; The USA PATRIOT Act vs. the Constitutio

The General Practice Care of People With Intellectual Disability: Barriers and Solutions

A questionnaire exploring general practitioners' (GPs) perceptions of the barriers and solutions to providing health care to people with intellectual disability was sent to 912 randomly selected GPs throughout Australia. a response rate of 58% was obtained. Results indicated that numerous barriers compromised the quality of health care able to be provided to people with intellectual disability. communications difficulties with patients and other health professionals, and problems in obtaining patient histories stood out as the two most significant barriers. A range of other barriers were identified, including GPs' lack of training and experience, patients' poor compliance with management plans, consultation time constraints, difficulties in problem determination, examination difficulties, poor continuity of care, and GPs' inadequate knowledge of the services and resources available. General practitioners also suggested numerous solutions to these barriers, and emphasized the need for increased opportunities for education and training in intellectual disability. The GPs showed an overwhelming interest to be involved in further education. Other major solutions included increasing consultation duration or frequency, proactively involving families and carers in patients' ongoing health care, and increasing remuneration

Development of a gamified cognitive training app “Social Brain Train” to enhance adolescent mental health: a participatory design study protocol

Background: Adolescence is a sensitive period for the onset of mental health disorders. Effective, easy-to-disseminate, scalable prevention and early interventions are urgently needed. Affective control has been proposed as a potential target mechanism. Training affective control has been shown to reduce mental health symptoms and improve emotion regulation. However, uptake and adherence to such training by adolescents has been low. Thus, the current study aims to receive end user (i.e., adolescents) feedback on a prototype of a novel app-based gamified affective control training program, the Social Brain Train. Methods: The proposed study aims to recruit participants aged 13-16 years old (N = 20) to provide user feedback on the Social Brain Train app. The first group of participants (n = 5) will complete an online questionnaire assessing demographics, symptoms of depression and anxiety, social rejection sensitivity and attitudes toward the malleability of cognition and mental health. They will complete two tasks assessing cognitive capacity and interpretation bias. Participants will be then be invited to an online group workshop, where they will be introduced to the app. They will train on the app for three days, and following app usage, participants will complete the aforementioned measures again, as well as provide ratings on app content, and complete a semi-structured interview to obtain in-depth user feedback, which will be used to inform modifications to the app. Following these modifications, a second group of participants (n = 15) will follow the same procedure, except they will train on the app for 14 days. Feedback from both groups of participants will be used to inform the final design. Conclusions: By including young people in the design of the Social Brain Train app, the proposed study will help us to develop a novel mental health intervention that young people find engaging, acceptable, and easy-to-useSavannah Minihan, Annabel Songco, Jack L. Andrews, Karina Grunewald, Aliza Werner-Seidler, Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Helen Christensen, Elaine Fox, Ian M. Goodyer, William Raffe, Susanne Schweize

The effect of intolerance of uncertainty on anxiety and depression, and their symptom networks, during the COVID-19 pandemic

Individuals vary in their ability to tolerate uncertainty. High intolerance of uncertainty (the tendency to react nega‑ tively to uncertain situations) is a known risk factor for mental health problems. In the current study we examined the degree to which intolerance of uncertainty predicted depression and anxiety symptoms and their interrelations across the frst year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined these associations across three time points (May 2020 – April 2021) in an international sample of adults (N=2087, Mean age=41.13) from three countries (UK, USA, Australia) with varying degrees of COVID-19 risk. We found that individuals with high and moderate levels of intolerance of uncertainty reported reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms over time. However, symptom levels remained signifcantly elevated compared to individuals with low intolerance of uncertainty. Individuals with low intolerance of uncertainty had low and stable levels of depression and anxiety across the course of the study. Network analyses further revealed that the relationships between depression and anxiety symptoms became stronger over time among individuals with high intolerance of uncertainty and identified that feeling afraid showed the strongest association with intolerance of uncertainty. Our findings are consistent with previous work identifying intolerance of uncertainty as an important risk factor for mental health problems, especially in times marked by actual health, economic and social uncertainty. The results highlight the need to explore ways to foster resilience among individuals who struggle to tolerate uncertainty, as ongoing and future geopolitical, climate and health threats will likely lead to continued exposure to significant uncertainty.Jack L. Andrews, Meiwei Li, Savannah Minihan, Annabel Songco, Elaine Fox, Cecile D. Ladouceur, Louise Mewton, Michelle Moulds, Jennifer H. Pfeifer, Anne, Laura Van Harmelen, and Susanne Schweize

Enterprise Culture and the Arts: Neo-Liberal Values and British Art Institutions

Neoliberal discourse has spread from the economic realm into all parts of society. This chapter discusses the current situation of neoliberal discourses and their effects on the arts, focusing on the United Kingdom. It also examines the historical development of British cultural policy, highlighting trends toward the marketization of the arts, increasing government intervention, and a growing emphasis on managerialism. The analysis shows that British arts organizations have been deeply affected by state and corporate interests. The chapter draws on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, who describes the field of cultural production as containing two poles that are autonomous or heteronomous. By tracing British cultural policy as it came to favor enterprise culture, the chapter demonstrates an increasing loss of autonomy in the arts

The Potential Economic and Environmental Costs of GHG Mitigation Measures for Cattle Sectors in Northern Ireland

National greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation strategy can benefit from information on the technical and economic viability of abatement options. The life-cycle-analysis (LCA) and marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) approaches provide a good, although partial, indication for the potential of existing technologies to mitigate GHG emissions. The input-output (IO) approach has advantages in capturing the indirect impacts of technology adoption from shifts in economic structure and linkages between sectors. It is therefore ideal to develop an integrated approach to more accurately assess the overall economic and environmental impacts of climate policy. In this study, we aim to develop such an approach that extends the assessment of viability to include indirect economic and environmental effects of resulting structural shifts in the economy. The new approach is applied to technological GHG mitigation measures in Northern Ireland’s cattle sectors. The main findings indicate there is a marked difference (even reversal under some conditions) in the overall impact of technical reductions in emission-intensity on national output and emissions when adjustments in economic structure are taken into account

The Potential Economic and Environmental Costs of GHG Mitigation Measures for Cattle Sectors in Northern Ireland

National greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation strategy can benefit from information on the technical and economic viability of abatement options. The life-cycle-analysis (LCA) and marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) approaches provide a good, although partial, indication for the potential of existing technologies to mitigate GHG emissions. The input-output (IO) approach has advantages in capturing the indirect impacts of technology adoption from shifts in economic structure and linkages between sectors. It is therefore ideal to develop an integrated approach to more accurately assess the overall economic and environmental impacts of climate policy. In this study, we aim to develop such an approach that extends the assessment of viability to include indirect economic and environmental effects of resulting structural shifts in the economy. The new approach is applied to technological GHG mitigation measures in Northern Ireland’s cattle sectors. The main findings indicate there is a marked difference (even reversal under some conditions) in the overall impact of technical reductions in emission-intensity on national output and emissions when adjustments in economic structure are taken into account.GHG mitigation, IO analysis, technical cost, Northern Ireland, Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, C67, Q52, Q56, Q58,