The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale has been widely used in assessing psychological distress among general and clinical populations from different cultural backgrounds. To our knowledge, ...however, researchers have not yet validated any translated versions in Arabic. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of Arabic translations of the ten item (K10) and six item (K6) versions among public sector employees in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
As part of a larger research project on life satisfaction, researchers collected data from 234 Palestinian social workers in June and July of 2016. The survey included several mental health measures, including the K10, which were translated from English to Arabic by an experienced language expert. In the current study, we tested reliability by measuring internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Next, we assessed factor structure using variance-covariance matrix with maximum likelihood estimation. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to examine three competing models: unidimensional K10 model, unidimensional K6 model and two-factor K6 model. Fit indices and parameter estimates were reported. Last, convergent validity was examined by assessing correlations with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and Somatic Symptoms Scale (SSS-8).
The mean scores for the K6 and K10 were, respectively, 12.87 (SD = 4.02) and 21.8 (SD = 6.7), indicative of mild to moderate levels of distress. Scale reliability analysis showed satisfactory results on both K6 and K10 versions (Cronbach's α = .81 (K6) and .88 (K10)). Among three competing models, the two-factor K6 scale demonstrated the best model fit with high factorial correlations (r = .60, p < .001). Moreover, the K6 has high convergent validity with GAD-7 (r = .66, p < .001) and SSS-8 (r = .61, p < .001).
Results indicated that the translated version of the two-factor K6 scale is a valid and reliable measurement of psychological distress. Our findings suggest that practitioners and researchers can use this instrument in screening and assessing psychological symptoms with Arabic-speaking populations.
This study aimed to determine the prevalence and predictive factors of fear of COVID-19 and serious mental distress among teachers in public schools of Southern Tunisia. This was a cross sectional ...study among a representative sample of 525 teachers. The level of Fear was assessed using the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S). A high level was defined as an FCV-19S ≥ 22. Kessler 6 (K6) was performed to predict serious mental distress. Serious mental distress was defined as a K6 score ≥ 13. The prevalence rates of high level of fear of COVID-19 and serious mental distress were 32.8% and 63.8%, respectively. Independent factors associated with a high level of fear of COVID-19 were female gender (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=1.6 1.1-2.5), chronic disease (AOR=1.6 1.1-2.4), home-living children (AOR=3.3 1.4-7.8), and poor material working conditions (AOR=1.5 1.2-2.1). The high level of fear of COVID-19 (AOR=3.1 1.8-5.1) was independently associated with serious mental distress. Living in a rural area (AOR=0.4 0.3-0.8), previous COVID-19 infection (AOR=0.5 0.4-0.8) and going to school on foot (AOR=0.3 0.2-0.51) were independently associated with a lower prevalence of serious mental distress.
Adopting an abductive approach, in this paper we use two studies to examine the relationships between financial worries and well-being amongst the self-employed during the time of the COVID-19 ...pandemic. In Study 1 of 4806 participants from the Understanding Society’s COVID-19 survey of the UK population, we find that financial worries were associated with higher mental distress for self-employed when facing reduced work hours. In Study 2, in a sample of 1794 participants from the six-country COVID study, we find that higher than expected fall in income mediates the association between self-employment and happiness. The findings have implications for research regarding financial worries, distress, and well-being of the self-employed.
•Financial worries related to the COVID-19 pandemic are positively related to mental distress.•Reduced work had a greater association with mental distress for self-employed than for employed individuals.•Self-employed individuals are more likely to expect a fall in their own income related to the COVID-19 pandemic.•Higher than expected fall in income mediates self-employment and lower happiness.
Objective
This study aims to document the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on mental health.
Method
We compared a nationally representative online sample of 2,032 U.S. adults in late April 2020 to ...19,330 U.S. adult internet users who participated in the 2018 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) using the Kessler‐6 scale of mental distress in the last 30 days.
Results
Compared to the 2018 NHIS sample, U.S. adults in April 2020 were eight times more likely to fit criteria for serious mental distress (27.7% vs. 3.4%) and three times more likely to fit criteria for moderate or serious mental distress (70.4% vs. 22.0%). Differences between the 2018 and 2020 samples appeared across all demographic groups, with larger differences among younger adults and those with children in the household.
Conclusions
These considerable levels of mental distress may portend substantial increases in diagnosed mental disorders and in their associated morbidity and mortality.
•Geriatric workers' distress and well-being were assessed after pandemic emergency.•Job satisfaction components were differentially related to distress and well-being.•Satisfaction with workplace ...relationships significantly predicted well-being.•Flourishing workers showed lower distress levels than languishing ones.
As limited evidence is available on health professionals’ experience during the post-pandemic period, the interplay between job satisfaction components, mental distress and well-being was investigated among workers of an Italian geriatric institution.
In Spring 2022, 205 participants (females =75.6%), primarily healthcare assistants (36.6%), nurses (16.6%), and rehabilitation professionals (14.1%), completed the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF), and the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. Data analyses comprised Multiple Regressions, Relative Weight Analyses, and ANOVA.
Satisfaction with working conditions and leadership exhibited negative associations with distress, while satisfaction with patients, colleagues, results, and leadership were positively correlated with well-being. Participants with high well-being levels scored significantly lower across mental distress dimensions than participants reporting poor well-being levels.
Results showed that specific job satisfaction components relate differently to distress and well-being, suggesting the need for implementing organizational resources, psychological support, and interprofessional collaboration in healthcare services.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to numerous challenges for child protection professionals (CPPs). However, limited research has investigated the interwoven concepts of coping, resilience, and mental ...distress among CPPs during COVID-19 on a global scale.
This study aimed to explore CPPs' practice, resilience, and mental distress during COVID-19, the relationship between their resilience and mental distress, the global stability of the Multi-System Model of Resilience (MSMR), and how CPPs' resilience varied according to the Human Development Index (HDI).
Data were collected from 420 CPPs in 57 countries across five continents between July and September 2021. Participants completed an online questionnaire on demographics, resilience, mental distress, coping, and perceptions of child protection during the pandemic in their native languages. The analyses compared the countries grouped according to HDI using means comparisons, correlations, and multiple linear regressions. A two-path analysis was also performed to identify variables associated with behavioral resilience engagement and mental distress.
The findings indicated that CPPs' perceptions of COVID-19's impact on child maltreatment varied in correlation with their country's HDI. There were also significant HDI-based differences regarding the perceived opportunity to engage in resilient behavior and its helpfulness. Years of professional experience, internal resilience, and external resilience were shown to be significant predictors of mental distress among CPPs during the pandemic, and resilience mediated how years of experience predicted mental distress.
This study emphasized the importance of experience and internal resilience for CPPs’ psychological well-being. It also provides empirical evidence to support the MSMR theory on a global scale. Additionally, it demonstrates how the perceived changes in child maltreatment during COVID-19 may be associated with regional HDI. Lastly, the opportunities CPPs had to engage in resilient behavior and how much this helped them was associated with regional HDI, but not in the way originally predicted. Study results also hold implications for how practice and policy may be altered to help CPPs cope better during times of crisis and generally.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted worldwide policies ranging from social distancing to total lockdown. This study aims to assess mental distress and resilience as stress mediators during these two ...periods. The cross-sectional research followed 636 adults in March–April 2020, from social-distancing restrictions through the transition to general lockdown. Participants completed the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) and the Adult Resilience Measure (ARM-R). Higher DASS scores were associated with female gender, younger age, being single and childless, no graduate degree, being employed during the pandemic and lower socioeconomic status. After controlling for age, DASS scores were significantly higher during total lockdown vs. social distancing. Full mediation of the ARM-R measure was revealed in the association between DASS score and restriction stage (social distancing vs. lockdown). Tightening restrictive policies is associated with higher distress in the general population, with specific groups at risk. Intervention programs are necessary to increase resilience from an eco-contextual perspective.
Across three nationally representative surveys (N = 9.2 million), U.S. adults reported increasingly poor mental health between 1993 and 2020. In the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, poor ...mental health days rose from 3 to 4 days per month, and from 3.55 to 6.02 days per month among young adults ages 18 to 25. Twice as many young adults spent half or more of their days in poor mental health in 2018-20 compared to 1993-99. Nearly all of the increase occurred before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. In the National Health Interview Survey, 30% more young adults and prime-age adults (ages 26 to 49) reported moderate to high mental distress in 2017-18 compared to 1997-99. In the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, more than twice as many young adults, and 50% more prime-age and older (50+) adults, fit criteria for moderate to severe depression in 2017-20 compared to 2006-07. The pronounced increase in mood disorder symptoms identified among adolescents has now moved up the age scale to younger adults.
Loot boxes are virtual items in many video games that let players “gamble” on an item of chance. Loot boxes bring an element of gambling into video games, which might prime video game users to engage ...in online gambling activities. However, few studies have focused on this emerging issue. The present study investigated the relationships between loot box purchases and both problem video gaming and problem gambling severity. Cross-sectional, self-report data were collected from 618 adult video gamers (M = 27 years of age, SD = 8.9, 63.7% male) via an online survey. Nearly half of the sample (44.2%) spent money on loot box purchases in the past year. Loot box purchasers played video games and gambled online more frequently, reported more extended gaming and online gambling sessions, and endorsed higher levels of problem video gaming and problem gambling severity as well as greater mental distress relative to those who did not buy loot boxes. Results from a series of path analyses revealed that loot box purchasing was directly related to problem video gaming and problem gambling severity as well as indirectly through increased video gaming/online gambling engagement, which in turn is related to elevated psychological distress. The present findings provide insight into the role of loot box purchasing in the transition from recreational engagement in video gaming and online gambling to problem video gaming and/or problem gambling.
•Almost half of the video game players purchased loot boxes over the past year.•Loot box purchasing is linked to problem video gaming.•Loot box purchasing is linked to online gambling engagement and problem gambling.•Loot box purchasing is indirectly related to mental distress.
Healthcare workers in the front line of diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are at great risk of both infection and developing mental health symptoms. ...This study aimed to investigate the following: (1) whether healthcare workers in general hospitals experience higher mental distress than those in psychiatric hospitals; (2) the role played by religion and alexithymic trait in influencing the mental health condition and perceived level of happiness of healthcare workers amidst the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic; and (3) factors that influence the resilience of healthcare workers at 6 weeks' follow-up.
Four-hundred and fifty-eight healthcare workers were recruited from general and psychiatric hospitals, and 419 were followed-up after 6 weeks. All participants filled out the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, five-item Brief-Symptom Rating Scale, and the Chinese Oxford Happiness Questionnaire.
Under the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, 12.3% of frontline healthcare workers in general hospitals reported having mental distress and perceived lower social adaptation status compared with those working in psychiatric hospitals. Christians/Catholics perceived better psychological well-being, and Buddhists/Taoists were less likely to experience mental distress. The results at 6 weeks of follow-up showed that the perceived lower social adaptation status of general hospital healthcare workers was temporary and improved with time. Christian/Catholic religion and time had independent positive effects on psychological well-being; however, the interaction of Christian/Catholic religion and time had a negative effect.
Collectivism and individualism in the cultural context are discussed with regard to alexithymic trait and Buddhist/Taoist and Christian/Catholic religious faiths. Early identification of mental distress and interventions should be implemented to ensure a healthy and robust clinical workforce for the treatment and control of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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