Žiniasklaidoje pateikiamų savižudybės pavyzdžių poveikis paaugliams ir jaunuoliams

The goal of this study was to determine the influence of suicide examples in media on teenagers and young peoples’ emotions and thoughts about suicide imitation. Conclusions: 1) Teenagers and young people encounter with examples of suicidal behavior in all forms of media, mostly, newspapers and television. 2) Some of young people experience a high emotional effect of suicide description or depiction. 3) Models of suicidal behavior presented in media mostly affect the young people who are experiencing existential frustration and have more expressed suicidal tendencies.Šio tyrimo tikslas buvo nustatyti, kokį emocinį poveikį ir mintis apie savižudybės apie imitaciją paaugliams ir jaunuoliams daro žiniasklaidoje pateikiami savižudybės pavyzdžiai. Daromos išvados: 1) paaugliai ir jaunuoliai dažnai susiduria su savižudiško elgesio pavyzdžiais visose žiniasklaidos priemonėse, daugiausiai – laikraščiuose ir per televiziją. 2) Kai kuriuos jaunuolius savižudybės aprašymai ar pavaizdavimai labai smarkiai emociškai paveikia. 3) Žiniasklaidos priemonėse pateikiami savižudiško elgesio modeliai stipriausiai veikia tuos jaunuolius, kurie išgyvena egzistencinę frustraciją ir pasižymi ryškesnėmis suicidinėmis tendencijomis

How does the Assessment of Work Organization during the COVID-19 Pandemic Relate to Changes in the Well-Being of Health System Workers?

In the case of various emergencies, especially pandemics, healthcare workers are faced with disproportionate pressures. Organizational support plays a significant role in protecting the psychological and physical health of healthcare workers. This interdisciplinary research aims to determine how changes in the physical and psychological well-being of healthcare and pharmacy workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 lockdown are related to work organization factors that support safety and stability. A quantitative research strategy was applied in the research. Data from an electronic survey assessed the changes in the physical and psychological well-being of healthcare and pharmacy workers during the lockdown period and the organizational factors supporting safety and stability. The sample of the quantitative research consisted of 967 employees of healthcare institutions and pharmacies in Lithuania. This research broadens the concept of organizational factors and provides data on their interaction with the changes of employee well-being indicators in a pandemic situation. It was found that positive changes in the evaluation of physical as well as psychological well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown could be consistently predicted by all the analyzed safety and stability supporting organizational factors that were found to be associated with subjective physical well-being and psychological well-being even when adjusting for the effect of socio-demographic factors (gender, age, work field, and specialty). The identification and proper management of organizational factors was significant for the psychological and physical well-being of healthcare workers during the lockdown period. It was found that all estimates of safety and stability supporting organizational factors during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown were positively related and could act as protective factors to the subjective physical and psychological well-being of healthcare and pharmacy workers

Psychological Aspects of Media Communication during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from Healthcare and Pharmacy Specialists in Lithuania

In the setting of disasters, people seek information as they hope that knowledge will provide security. This makes the media a critical source of crisis exposure. The aim of the study described in this article was to analyze COVID-19 pandemic-related psychological aspects of media use by healthcare and pharmacy workers in Lithuania and to reveal the subjective effects of media consumption on their psychological well-being. 967 healthcare workers and pharmacists in Lithuania completed an electronic survey, which consisted of questions about the changes in well-being experienced since the beginning of the lockdown and media use in the search for information on COVID-19. It was found that communication might have ambiguous effects on psychological well-being. Excessive, unreliable, misleading, contradictory information and “catastrophizing” were subjectively related to impaired psychological well-being. Objective and reliable, relevant, clear, timely, hopeful and supportive information had a subjective positive effect. Seeking COVID-19-related information many times a day was associated with increased fear of becoming infected with COVID-19, feeling unable to control the risk of contracting COVID-19, fear of infecting relatives with COVID-19 and feeling that other people would avoid interaction with healthcare workers and pharmacists because of their job. General browsing was not consistently associated with COVID-19-related fears

Family time, parental behaviour model and the initiation of smoking and alcohol use by ten-year-old children: an epidemiological study in Kaunas, Lithuania

BACKGROUND: Family is considered to be the first and the most important child development and socialization bond. Nevertheless, parental behaviour model importance for the children, as well as family time for shared activity amount influence upon the child's health-related behaviour habit development has not been yet thoroughly examined. The aim of this paper is to indicate the advanced health-hazardous behaviour modelling possibilities in the families, as well as time spent for joint family activities, and to examine the importance of time spent for joint family activities for the smoking and alcohol use habit initiation among children. METHODS: This research was carried out in Kaunas, Lithuania, during the school year 2004–2005. The research population consisted of 369 fifth-grade schoolchildren (211 (57.2%) boys and 158 (42.8%) girls) and 565 parents: 323 (57.2%) mothers and 242 (48.2%) fathers. The response rate was 80.7% for children; 96.1% and 90.6% for mothers and fathers correspondingly. RESULTS: Eating a meal together was the most frequent joint family activity, whereas visiting friends or relatives together, going for a walk, or playing sports were the most infrequent joint family activities. More than two thirds (81.5%) of parents (248 (77.0%) mothers and 207 (85.9%) fathers (p < 0.05)) reported frequenting alcohol furnished parties at least once a month. About half of the surveyed fathers (50.6%) together with one fifth of the mothers (19.9%) (p < 0.001) were smokers. More frequently than girls, boys reported having tried smoking (6.6% and 23.0% respectively; p < 0.001) as well as alcohol (31.16% and 40.1% respectively; p < 0.05). Child alcohol use was associated both with paternal alcohol use, and with the time, spent in joint family activities. For instance, boys were more prone to try alcohol, if their fathers frequented alcohol furnished parties, whereas girls were more prone to try alcohol, if family members spent less time together. CONCLUSION: Joint family activity time deficit together with frequent parental examples of smoking and alcohol use underlie the development of alcohol and smoking addictions in children to some extent. The above-mentioned issues are suggested to be widely addressed in the comprehensive family health education programs

Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms among Lithuanian Parents Raising Children with Cancer

Background and objectives: The study aims to evaluate post-traumatic stress symptom expression among Lithuanian parents raising children with cancer, including social, demographic, and medical factors, and to determine their significance for the risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder. Materials and methods: The study was carried out in two major Lithuanian hospitals treating children with oncologic diseases. The cross-sectional study included 195 parents, out of which 151 were mothers (77.4%) and 44 were fathers (22.6%). Post-traumatic stress symptoms were assessed using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. To collect the sociodemographic, childhood cancer, and treatment data, we developed a questionnaire that was completed by the parents. Main study results were obtained using multiple linear regression. Results: A total of 75.4% of parents caring for children with cancer had pronounced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The female gender (β = 0.83, p < 0.001) was associated with an increased manifestation of symptoms, whilst higher parental education (β = −0.21, p = 0.034) and the absence of relapse (β = −0.48, p < 0.001) of the child’s disease reduced post-traumatic stress symptom expression. Conclusions: Obtained results confirmed that experiencing a child’s cancer diagnosis and treatment is extremely stressful for many parents. This event may lead to impaired mental health and increased post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) risk; hence, it is necessary to provide better support and assistance to parents of children with cancer

The types of deliberate self-harm and its prevalence among Lithuanian teenagers

The aim of this study is to identify how widely deliberate self-harm is spread and the types of deliberate self-harm among 15–17-year-old teenagers in Lithuania. Material and methods. The anonymous Lifestyle and Coping Questionnaire was used for the study carried out in 2006. This countrywide study involved 3848 respondents (2200 girls (57.2 %) and 1648 boys (42.8%)) aged 15–17 years from all 10 regions of Lithuania. Results. According to the findings of this study, 7.3% of 15–17-year-old Lithuanian teenagers (9.9% girls and 3.8% boys) stated that they had deliberately overdosed drugs or tried to inflict self-injury in other ways. Less than half of them (43.4%) reported that they were thinking to repeat such behavior. Half of the adolescents who inflicted self-injury were living in a two-parent family, 27.4% – with one of the parents, 7% – with other member of the family, and 9% – with other people. One-third of adolescents (34.2%) choose internal ways of self-harm, 26% – external self-injury, 11% – tried to harm themselves in mixed way, and 28.8% – did not indicate the way. In case of a self-injury mentioned above, 13.5% of adolescents were admitted to hospital. Conclusions. In Lithuania, adolescent self-harm is relatively frequent: 7.3% of 15–17-year-old Lithuanian adolescents deliberately self-harmed during their life. The most frequent way to self-harm is to overdose. This study confirms the need for preventive activities and necessity of further studies in this field

Schoolchildren’s self-reported explanations of suicidal ideation

Straipsnyje pristatomo tyrimo tikslas buvo įvertinti Lietuvos moksleivių savižudiškų polinkių paplitimą ir išanalizuoti, kokius savižudiškų minčių bei elgesio paaiškinimus pateikia vienuolikos, trylikos ir penkiolikos metų berniukai ir mergaitės. Atliktas darbas pagrįstas 2002 metų PSO koordinuojamos moksleivių sveikatos ir gyvensenos studijos (Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children – HBSC) duomenimis. Tirtą kontingentą sudarė 5645 moksleiviai: 2887 (51,1 proc.) berniukai ir 2758 (48,9 proc.) mergaitės. Tyrimo duomenimis, savižudiški polinkiai būdingi trečdaliui (32,5 proc.) apklausoje dalyvavusių moksleivių. Savižudiškų polinkių turintys moksleiviai linkę atskleisti jų priežastis: jas nurodė 42,7 proc. tiriamųjų. Aptardami savižudiškas paskatas moksleiviai dažniausiai minėjo slegiančius jausmus ir išgyvenimus. Jaunesnieji moksleiviai mintis ir bandymus save žaloti itin dažnai aiškino smalsumu ir noru išbandyti įvairius savižudybės būdus

Moksleivių įvardijamos savižudiškų polinkių priežastys

This article presents nationally representative data on the prevalence of suicidal tendencies and self reported explanations of their causes.The analysis is based on the data of the survey conducted in 2002 according to the methodology of the WHO Cross-National study on Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC). The sample was expected to represent the whole country from the point of view of age, sex, nationality and the place of living. A stratified cluster sampling design was used to draw a sample of 11, 13 and 15 year old Lithuanian schoolchildren. Regarding the actual number of pupils in the lists of selected classes the response rate was approximately 96 percents. The final population of the cleaned data consisted of 5645 schoolchildren: 2887 (51.1%) boys and 2758 (48.9%) girls.The survey instrument was a standardized anonymous questionnaire. The focus question group concerning suicides was included into Lithuanian questionnaire version in order to study the suicidal ideation and behaviour in adolescents. The assessment of the prevalence of suicidal tendencies among schoolchildren was made considering answers to the question “Have you ever had any thoughts about suicide?” Reasons for suicidal thoughts or behaviour were reported in free form, replying to the question “If you have been at the edge to suicide (have had frequent thoughts, planned) or tried to commit it, give briefly the main reasons that have evoked such feelings or behaviour.”The findings demonstrated that suicidal tendencies are typical to about one third (32.5%) of eleven, thirteen and fifteen year old schoolchildren: 24.1% of respondents appointed that they sometimes have thoughts about suicide, 4.0% claimed to have frequent thoughts about it, 2.7% had thought about suicide rather seriously and making concrete plans how to commit it, 1.7% mentioned that they had tried to commit suicide. Girls tended to have suicidal inclinations almost twice more often than boys.The data received show, that schoolchildren were inclined to disclose triggers of their suicidal intentions. Various explanations of the reasons of suicidal tendencies were set forth by 42.7% of suicidal boys and girls. Discussing reasons for suicidal inducements, schoolchildren most often mentioned depressing feelings and experiences. Usually in the provided explanations there was no thorough description of situation or events; schoolchildren tried to define the way they feel in general terms, mentioning “tired” life, fatigue, loneliness, unhappiness, anger or desire of revenge. There is a great probability that beneath such expressions there could be hidden not only painful experiences caused by traumatizing events but also depression. Comparison by gender showed that girls were especially prone to refer to emotional, sensual experience, whereas boys more often gave concrete facts and events. Rather often while explaining reasons of suicidal attempts younger children named a wish to try one or other way of suicide, to experience “what a person feels when dying”, “what is life like beyond.” The carried out survey proved that such thoughts expressed by schoolchildren should warn about possible risk to a child who may be either eager to satisfy curiosity or not able to cope with emotional problems or misfortunes. These findings indicate that all signs of depressive mood and suicidal behaviour of adolescents must be taken seriously.Straipsnyje pristatomo tyrimo tikslas buvo įvertinti Lietuvos moksleivių savižudiškų polinkių paplitimą ir išanalizuoti, kokius savižudiškų minčių bei elgesio paaiškinimus pateikia vienuolikos, trylikos ir penkiolikos metų berniukai ir mergaitės. Atliktas darbas pagrįstas 2002 metų PSO koordinuojamos moksleivių sveikatos ir gyvensenos studijos (Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children – HBSC) duomenimis. Tirtą kontingentą sudarė 5645 moksleiviai: 2887 (51,1 proc.) berniukai ir 2758 (48,9 proc.) mergaitės.&nbsp;Tyrimo duomenimis, savižudiški polinkiai būdingi trečdaliui (32,5 proc.) apklausoje dalyvavusių moksleivių. Savižudiškų polinkių turintys moksleiviai linkę atskleisti jų priežastis: jas nurodė 42,7 proc. tiriamųjų. Aptardami savižudiškas paskatas moksleiviai dažniausiai minėjo slegiančius jausmus ir išgyvenimus. Jaunesnieji moksleiviai mintis ir bandymus save žaloti itin dažnai aiškino smalsumu ir noru išbandyti įvairius savižudybės būdus

Psychological state of abused children of risk group

The aim of this study was to describe the psychological peculiarities of physically abused schoolchildren of risk group. The survey was based on the data gathered using anonymous questionnaire. Indicators, chosen for evaluation of psychological well-being of schoolchildren, were the following: loneliness, happiness, ability to make contacts and socialize with peers, sense of coherence, self-esteem, and suicidal tendencies. The sample of 211 schoolchildren, aged 10 to 16 year from seventeen Kaunas secondary schools participated in the survey. The sampling was made on the basis of lists of socially and pedagogically neglected schoolchildren. It has been established that psychological well-being of physically abused schoolchildren, in comparison with the ones not abused, was worse. Physically abused children more often felt loneliness and unhappiness, found it more difficult to make friends, were more often characterized by low self-esteem and weak sense of coherence. The relationship between physical abuse and suicidal tendencies was established; suicidal tendencies among physically abused schoolchildren were six times more frequent than among those, who did not suffer violence (78.5% and 12.5%). Almost all schoolchildren, attributed to the group with high risk for suicide, were physically abused (29.0% and 1.9%, respectively)

Postnatal Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Risk Following Miscarriage

The experience of miscarriage is an important population-level problem that affects approximately 10&ndash;25% of pregnancies. The physical consequences of miscarriage have been researched extensively, but psychological sequelae less so. First-person accounts show that women who have experienced miscarriage feel pressured to stay silent, to grieve, and to fight intense physical and psychological challenges alone. There is ample scientific evidence on the links between miscarriage and physical and mental health disorders, such as complicated grief, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, suicidal risk, psychosomatic disorders, sexual health disorders, etc. However, there is a lack of deeper understanding of the specifics of psychological morbidity after miscarriage, as well as of the information on vulnerability and resilience factors. This study aims to assess the risk of postnatal depression and post-traumatic stress following miscarriage. A total of 839 Lithuanian women who had one or more miscarriages were asked to complete an online questionnaire, including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R). Of the women, 59.1% were found to be at increased risk of postnatal depression and 48.9% at high risk of postnatal depression; 44.7% of the women were considered to be at increased risk of post-traumatic stress. An impaired relationship with one&rsquo;s body and childlessness has been the strongest predictors of psychological morbidity risk