The Effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid Training among Undergraduate Students in Switzerland: A Randomized Control Trial

Half to three-fourths of mental disorders appear during adolescence or young adulthood, and the treatment gap is mainly due to lack of knowledge, lack of perceived need, and the stigmatization of mental illness. The aims of this study were to implement and evaluate a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training program among undergraduates. Participants were second-year students from two universities in the French-speaking region of Switzerland (N = 107), who were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 53) or control group (n = 54). The intervention group received a 12-h MHFA course. Online questionnaires were completed before the intervention (T0), and both 3 months (T1) and 12 months (T2) after the intervention in order to evaluate the participants’ mental health knowledge, recognition of schizophrenia, and attitudes and behaviors towards mental illness. We used Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) to examine the effects of intervention over time. After the MHFA course, the intervention group showed significantly increased basic knowledge and confidence helping others with mental illness and reduced stigmatization at both T1 and T2 compared to their baseline scores and compared to control groups. This suggests that the MHFA training program is effective and has significant short-term and long-term impacts, in terms of enhancing basic knowledge about mental health and improving attitudes towards mental illness among undergraduate students

Informal caregivers’ health: a literature review

Switzerland is facing a shortage of healthcare professionals that, according to experts, will worsen in the coming years due to the ageing of the population and the rise in chronic diseases. In this context, informal caregiving is more important than ever for assuring the well-being of loved ones. However, informal caregivers may themselves face health issues that are often ignored. The aim of this literature review is to highlight the determinants that are associated with informal caregivers’ well-being, quality of life, and burden to elaborate a baseline questionnaire for a prospective national cohort of informal caregivers. The literature review focused on informal caregivers’ quality of life, well-being, and burden as outcomes and was conducted between October 2021 and May 2022 using online databases (PubMed and CINAHL) targeting reviews and meta-analyses published between 2010 and 2021 in English or French that have an available abstract. A total of 847 references were selected. After removing duplicates and references published before 2010, 777 documents were assessed based on the abstract. References that reported results of a review of any type about informal caregivers’ well-being or quality of life or burden or any dimensions related to those constructs (e.g., depression) and that included an abstract with a method section were selected. After the removal of 502 references, the remaining 275 items were assessed based on the full text and only reviews about the appropriated outcomes that had an abstract and a method section conducted in Europe and/or North America and/or Australia and/or New Zealand were selected. At the end of the selection process, a total of 47 references were chosen in this literature review. References specific to COVID-19 were excluded because we believe that the pandemic likely aggravated some issues experienced by informal caregivers and induced some issues specific to the crisis. Thus, such references would not be representative of the overall experience of informal caregivers. The literature review’s results showed that psychosocial factors regarding informal caregivers’ health as identified by the considered outcomes have been widely investigated between 2010 and 2021. Among the aspects considered, social support, coping strategies, psychological health, valued activities, and employment were the most cited as factors affecting informal caregivers’ health as identified by the considered outcomes. However, cognitive, functional, behavioural, and neuro-(psychiatric) symptoms of the loved one also affected informal caregivers’ health considerably. Contextual factors, such as receiving information, formal support from healthcare professionals, financial difficulties, respite, also seemed to be of great importance regarding these outcomes

Setting new priorities for nursing research: The updated Swiss Nursing Research Agenda—a systematic, participative approach

Aim To identify current key areas for nursing research in Switzerland, we revised the Swiss Research Agenda for Nursing (SRAN) initially published in 2008. Background By developing a research agenda, nursing researchers internationally prioritize and cluster relevant topics within the research community. The process should be collaborative and systematic to provide credible information for decisionmakers in health care research, policy, and practice. Sources of Evidence After a participative, systematic, and critical evaluation within and outside of the Swiss Association for Nursing Science, the updated SRAN 2019–2029 defines four research priorities (new models of care, nursing care interventions, work and care environment, and quality of care and patient safety) and four transversal themes (organization of research, research methodologies, research in health care policy and public health perspectives). Conclusion Adding to other national nursing research agendas, the categories are organized in a framework of key research priorities and transversal themes. They relate to the importance of global and local foci of research as well as challenges in health care services and policy systems. The agenda is an important prerequisite for enhancing the influence of nursing research in Switzerland and provides guidance for the next decade.Implications for Nursing PracticeThe revised agenda ensures that research projects target key knowledge gaps and the discipline's core questions in respective countries.Implications for Health PolicyNursing research should inform and influence health policy on all institutional and political levels. Therefore, the integration of public health perspectives in research is one of the most important new aspects of SRAN 2019–2029

SCOHPICA ::cohorte suisse de professionel-les de santé et de proches aidant-es

Pour mieux comprendre les trajectoires des professionel-les de santé et les raisons pour lesquelles un nombre non négligeable d’entre eux quittent leur profession chaque année, une cohorte nationale visant à réunir 5 à 10 000 professionel-les de santé a été créée à l’automne 2022

Proches aidant·e·s ::des alliés indispensables aux professionnels de la santé

Alliés indispensables des professionnels de la santé, les proches aidant∙e∙s représentent une ressource extrêmement précieuse pour assurer des soins de qualité. Considérant le nombre restreint de professionnels pour répondre à l’augmentation de la demande de soins et de soutien auprès de la population, le domaine Santé de la Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale (HES-SO) a mené durant quatre ans un programme de recherche « Pénurie de main-d’œuvre qualifiée dans les professions de la santé : place, intégration et soutien des proches aidants » (PePA). Cet ouvrage présente les résultats de ce programme. Les différentes études y soulignent le rôle crucial qu’occupent les proches aidant∙e·s et documentent leur situation de vie et leurs besoins. Illustrant l’engagement de la HES-SO en faveur de la reconnaissance de la valeur stratégique des proches aidant∙e∙s pour faire face aux défis à venir, ce livre présente des pistes pour les intégrer dans les soins formels et différentes mesures de soutien. Des politiques publiques ambitieuses sont essentielles pour permettre aux proches aidant∙e∙s d’exercer aux côtés des professionnels, tout en préservant leur santé

Charges de travail et santé perçue de la "génération sandwich"

La coexistence des charges professionnelles, familiales, et d'aide à des ascendants expose la Génération Sandwich (GS) à des risques potentiels pour sa santé. Toutefois, les connaissances sur la GS sont insuffisantes pour permettre aux infirmières du secteur de la santé au travail de développer des interventions en promotion de la santé basées sur des preuves. Ce manque de clarté est préoccupant au vu de certaines tendances sociodémographiques. La présente étude vise à dresser le portrait des travailleurs de la GS en examinant les liens entre leurs caractéristiques, leurs charges co-existantes et leur santé perçue. Pour ce faire, nous avons développé un cadre de référence salutogénique. puis, nous l'avons utilisé pour conduire une recherche descriptive corrélationnelle transversale. un questionnaire électronique a permis de récolter les données de 826 employés d'une administration publique suisse. L'examen a montré que 23.5 % de l'échantillon appartenait à la GS. Cette appartenance ne dépendait pas du sexe. la charge de travail totale (70.5 h/sem) de la GS différait significativement de celle du reste de l'échantillon (62.8 h/sem). Nous n'avons pas trouvé de relation entre cette charge totale et la santé physique ou mentale des femmes. En revanche, il y avait une relation négative entre cette charge totale et la santé physique des hommes, et cette relation était proche du seuil de significativité pour la santé mentale de ces derniers. Grâce à une analyse soucieuse de faire évoluer favorablement les inégalités de genre (gender-transformative), cette étude fournit des pistes pour fonder des interventions préventives en faveur de la santé des membres de la GS

Developing a theoretical framework using a nursing perspective to investigate perceived health in the "Sandwich Generation" group.

Coexisting workloads from professional, household and family, and caregiving activities for frail parents expose middle-aged individuals, the so-called "Sandwich Generation", to potential health risks. Current trends suggest that this situation will continue or increase. Thus SG health promotion has become a nursing concern. Most existing research considers coexisting workloads a priori pathogenic. Most studies have examined the association of one, versus two, of these three activities with health. Few studies have used a nursing perspective. This article presents the development of a framework based on a nursing model. We integrated Siegrist's Effort-Reward Imbalance middle-range theory into "Neuman Systems Model". The latter was chosen for its salutogenic orientation, its attention to preventive nursing interventions and the opportunity it provides to simultaneously consider positive and negative perceptions of SG health and SG coexisting workloads. Finally, it facilitated a theoretical identification of health protective factors