New voices, at last Alisic, Eva; Hilgenkamp, Hans
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
09/2018, Letnik:
361, Številka:
6406
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Science academies are well placed to help strengthen national systems of research and innovation, drawing upon the knowledge of experienced scientists across fields. But what about the voices of ...early-career scientists who are impassioned to bolster international, interdisciplinary, and intergenerational dialogue, with the goal of making decision-making evidence-based and inclusive? Since 2000, “young” science academies have emerged across the world. The United States has now joined this movement. In June, the U.S. National Academies launched “New Voices in Sciences, Engineering and Medicine,” comprising 18 early- to midcareer scholars. They will engage in communicating the evidence base for addressing national and global challenges and help diversify the expertise in the National Academies' advisory activities (
www.nationalacademies.org/newvoices
). As New Voices convenes its first meeting next week, what should this organization consider?
Determinants of cross-national differences in the prevalence of mental illness are poorly understood.
To test whether national post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rates can be explained by (a) ...rates of exposure to trauma and (b) countries' overall cultural and socioeconomic vulnerability to adversity.
We collected general population studies on lifetime PTSD and trauma exposure, measured using the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview (DSM-IV). PTSD prevalence was identified for 24 countries (86 687 respondents) and exposure for 16 countries (53 038 respondents). PTSD was predicted using exposure and vulnerability data.
PTSD is related positively to exposure but negatively to country vulnerability. Together, exposure, vulnerability and their interaction explain approximately 75% of variance in the national prevalence of PTSD.
Contrary to expectations based on individual risk factors, we identified a paradox whereby greater country vulnerability is associated with a decreased, rather than increased, risk of PTSD for its citizens.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences are stressful for many children and their families. Previous research with school-aged children has shown that negative thoughts and worries can ...predict mental health symptoms following stressful events. So far preschool children have been neglected in these investigations.
Objective: The aim of this study was to explore negative thoughts and worries that preschool aged children are having during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Method: As part of a larger mixed-method study, caregivers of N = 399 preschoolers aged between 3 and 5 years (M = 4.41) answered open-ended questions about their COVID-19 related thoughts and worries. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to identify relevant themes from the qualitative data. A theoretical model of child thoughts and worries was developed based on these qualitative findings and the existing empirical and theoretical literature.
Results: Caregivers gave examples that indicated that preschoolers had difficulties understanding causality and overestimated the risk of COVID-19 infection. Caregivers reported that their children expressed worries about getting sick and infecting others as well as about changes in daily life becoming permanent. Caregivers observed their children's preoccupation with COVID-19 and worries in conversations, play and drawings as well as in behavioural changes - increased arousal, cautiousness, avoidance and attachment-seeking behaviour.
Conclusion: Preschool children can and do express negative thoughts and worries and have also experienced threat and increased vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic. A theoretical model is proposed that could inform assessments, interventions and future research in the field.
In the COVID-19 Unmasked study, caregivers reported that preschoolers struggled to understand the current restrictions.
Preschoolers were worried of getting the virus and that changes might become permanent.
Caregivers reported increased child avoidance, arousal and clinginess.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In the context of violence against women, intimate partner homicide increasingly receives research and policy attention. Although the impact of losing a parent due to intimate partner homicide is ...intuitively obvious, little is known about the children involved. We aimed to identify all children bereaved by parental intimate partner homicide in the Netherlands in the period 2003-2012, describe their demographics and family circumstances, and assess their exposure to prior violence at home and to the homicide itself.
We cross-examined 8 national data sources and extracted data about children's demographics and circumstances prior to, and during the homicide. Our primary outcomes were prior violence at home (child maltreatment, neglect or domestic violence) and homicide witness status (ranging from being at a different location altogether to being present at the scene). During the decade under study, 256 children lost a biological parent due to 137 cases of intimate partner homicide. On average, the children were 7.4 years old at the time of the homicide (51.1% were boys; 95% CI 47.3-54.7) and most lost their mother (87.1%; full population data). Immigrant children were overrepresented (59.4%; 95% CI 52.8-66.0). Of the children for whom information about previous violence at home was gathered, 67.7% (95% CI 59.7-73.7) were certainly exposed and 16.7% (95% CI 11.3-22.2) probably. Of the children who had certainly been exposed, 43.1% (95% CI 41.1-60.9) had not received social services or mental health care. The majority of the children (58.7%; 95% CI 52.1-65.3) were present at the location of the homicide when the killing took place, with varying levels of exposure. Homicide weapons mostly involved cutting weapons and firearms, leading to graphic crime scenes.
Care providers need capacity not only to help children cope with the sudden loss of a parent but also with unaddressed histories of domestic violence and exposure to graphic homicide scenes, in a culture-sensitive way. Future directions include longitudinal monitoring of children's mental health outcomes and replication in other countries.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Purpose of Review
To identify strategies for communicating with youth and children pre- and post-disaster in the context of a broader survey of child participation in disaster risk reduction as well ...as methods for communication with children.
Recent Findings
Youth and children are capable of peer and community education and activism concerning disaster issues and such participation benefits the young actors. Family and sibling support are important in easing the impact of trauma on children. Contemporary forms of psychological first aid appear to do no harm and in line with current evidence. Generally, more evidence from evaluations is necessary to guide the development of communication strategies.
Summary
Children are growing up in increasingly urban environments with less contact with nature and greater reliance on techno-social systems. Thus, young people may misunderstand natural hazards. Schools and conscious parenting can play important roles in building understanding and psychological resilience.
Preparedness for disasters is universally low; children and families are particularly vulnerable groups. Against this backdrop, research on disaster preparedness for children and families is ...reviewed, with a focus on disaster preparedness and prevention education programs. Following definitions and theory/rationale, research is critically analyzed. While findings indicate a large growth in research in the past 15 years and largely positive findings, significant challenges remain. These challenges include issues related to methodological rigor, long-term effectiveness, and implementation. Recent research reflecting these important challenges is reviewed. At the same time, other recent research documents real potential for these programs, including findings which suggest that increased attention to incorporating theory- and evidence-supported components can enhance outcomes. Thus, despite some important limitations and challenges, research done to date signals promise for these programs in reducing risk and increasing resilience to disasters for children, families, and the households and communities in which they live.
Posttraumatic growth (PTG), positive change resulting from the struggle with trauma, has garnered significant attention in the literature on adults. Recently, the research base has begun to extend ...downward, and this literature indicates that youth also evidence PTG-like changes. Researchers have sought to assess the construct, examine its correlates, and understand the factors that contribute to PTG in youth. Drawing from this work, this article considers clinical implications for youth. After briefly describing the PTG construct, its hypothesized process, and its distinction from resilience, the article focuses on key themes in the literature and, with those findings as backdrop, ways in which professionals can facilitate growth in youth who have experienced trauma. This discussion situates PTG within the broader trauma literature and includes specific applications used to date as well as the role of cultural factors. Future directions-salient to practitioners and researchers alike-are considered.
When one parent kills the other, children are confronted with multiple losses, involving their attachment figures and their direct living environment. In these complex situations, potentially drastic ...decisions are made, for example, regarding new living arrangements and contact with the perpetrating parent. We aimed to synthesize the empirical literature on children’s mental health and well-being after parental intimate partner homicide. A systematic search identified 17 relevant peer-reviewed articles (13 independent samples). We recorded the theoretical background, methodology, and sample characteristics of the studies, and extracted all child outcomes as well as potential risk and protective factors. Children’s outcomes varied widely and included psychological, social, physical, and academic consequences (e.g., post-traumatic stress, attachment difficulties, weight and appetite changes, and drops in school grades). Potential risk and protective factors for children’s outcomes included 10 categories of pre-, peri-, and post-homicide characteristics such as cultural background of the family, whether the child witnessed the homicide, and the level of conflict between the families of the victim and the perpetrator. We integrated the findings into a conceptual model of risk factors to direct clinical reflection and further research.
Ambient audio sampling methods such as the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) have become increasingly prominent in clinical and social sciences research. These methods record snippets of ...naturalistically assessed audio from participants’ daily lives, enabling novel observational research about the daily social interactions, identities, environments, behaviors, and speech of populations of interest. In practice, these scientific opportunities are equaled by methodological challenges: researchers’ own cultural backgrounds and identities can easily and unknowingly permeate the collection, coding, analysis, and interpretation of social data from daily life. Ambient audio sampling poses unique and significant challenges to cultural humility, diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) in scientific research that require systematized attention. Motivated by this observation, an international consortium of 21 researchers who have used ambient audio sampling methodologies created a workgroup with the aim of improving upon existing published guidelines. We pooled formally and informally documented challenges pertaining to DEI in ambient audio sampling from our collective experience on 40+ studies (most of which used the EAR app) in clinical and healthy populations ranging from children to older adults. This article presents our resultant recommendations and argues for the incorporation of community-engaged research methods in observational ambulatory assessment designs looking forward. We provide concrete recommendations across each stage typical of an ambient audio sampling study (recruiting and enrolling participants, developing coding systems, training coders, handling multi-linguistic participants, data analysis and interpretation, and dissemination of results) as well as guiding questions that can be used to adapt these recommendations to project-specific constraints and needs.
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