Loneliness is an experience resulting from a perceived discrepancy between expected and actual social relationships. Although this discrepancy is widely considered the “core mechanism” of loneliness, ...previous research and interventions have not sufficiently addressed what older adults specifically expect from their social relationships. To address this gap and to help situate research on older adults’ loneliness within broader life span developmental theories, we propose a theoretical framework that outlines six key social relationship expectations of older adults based on research from psychology, gerontology, and anthropology: availability of social contacts, receiving care and support, intimacy and understanding, enjoyment and shared interests, generativity and contribution, and being respected and valued. We further argue that a complete understanding of loneliness across the life span requires attention to the powerful impacts of contextual factors (e.g., culture, functional limitations, social network changes) on the expression and fulfillment of older adults’ universal and age-specific relationship expectations. The proposed Social Relationship Expectations Framework may fruitfully inform future loneliness research and interventions for a heterogeneous aging population.
Abstract
As the global average age increases, the incidence of dementia is also rising. Given improvements in diagnosis and life expectancies, people now live longer with dementia. Thus, the ...wellbeing and quality of life among people living with dementia are increasingly important areas for research.
Research with Western populations has recently begun to apply positive psychology concepts to understand wellbeing in people with dementia. Positive psychology focuses on positive emotions and traits that allow individuals to flourish and thrive—it highlights the possibility of positive subjective experiences in the face of loss and functional decline, and contrasts the traditional deficit-focused perception of dementia.
Despite being a major driver in the global growth of dementia prevalence, there is a dearth of research using such positive concepts to understand people with dementia in non-Western communities. This review contains discussion of research on positive constructs in Chinese older adults, and parallels between traditional Chinese cultural values and positive psychology. On this basis, we propose the applicability of a positive psychology framework to Chinese people with dementia, and that ‘harmony’ is an important culturally specific concept to consider in this area of research.
A positive psychology approach acknowledges that strengths and positive experiences can endure after dementia diagnosis. This not only adds to the under-researched area of lived experience of dementia in Chinese people, but highlights areas that could be the focus of interventions or measured as outcomes. By improving understanding, this approach also has potential to reduce carer burden and stigma around dementia.
Background and objectives: Social anxiety disorder is a common comorbidity in psychotic disorders and impacts significantly on functioning and recovery. Conflicting theories and evidence exist on its ...relationship with other psychopathologies. This study examined this complex network of relationship using path analysis.
Design: Clinical assessment and self-report in a cross-sectional consecutive outpatient sample.
Methods: Face-to-face interviews were conducted in 137 outpatients with early psychosis. A theoretical model of relationship between social anxiety, insight, persecutory delusions, ideas of reference, negative symptoms, and depression was tested using path analysis.
Results: Clinically significant social anxiety was observed in 45% of this sample. The final model suggested a direct link between ideas of reference (standardized path coefficient, β = 0.26, p < 0.002) and negative symptoms (β = 0.29, p < 0.001) to social anxiety. Insight was related to both persecutory delusions and negative symptoms but had no direct relationship with social anxiety. The model has excellent goodness-of-fit (Chi-square 6.62, comparative fit index 1.00, root mean square error of approximation 0.00).
Conclusions: This model provided a new framework for understanding the complex interplay between psychosis symptoms and social anxiety, which may be unique to outpatients with early psychosis and require further confirmatory research and targeted intervention strategies.
Abstract Network analysis provides an innovative approach to examining symptom-to-symptom interactions in mental health, and adverse external conditions may change the network structures. This study ...compared the networks of common risk factors and mental health problems (loneliness, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms) in community-dwelling older people before and during COVID-19. Older adults (aged ≥ 60) at risk for depression were recruited through non-governmental organizations. Loneliness, depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms were measured using the three-item Loneliness Scale (UCLA-3), nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), respectively. Data from 2549 (before) and 3506 (during COVID-19) respondents were included using propensity score matching. Being restless (GAD-7-item5) was most central, indicated by Expected Influence, in both pre and during COVID-19 networks despite low severity (mean score). The network during COVID-19 had higher global strength and edge variability than the pre-pandemic network, suggesting easier symptom spread and potentially more complex symptom presentation. In addition, feeling isolated from others (UCLA-3-item3) had stronger connections with feeling worthless/guilty (PHQ-9-item6) and anticipatory anxiety (GAD-7-item7) during COVID-19 than before. These findings may enhance our knowledge of the symptom structure of common mental health problems and the impacts of the pandemic. Targeting central symptoms may offer novel preventive strategies for older people.
Team cohesiveness and collective efficacy have been construed as important characteristics of a high-functioning team. However, the psychological mechanism through which they promote positive ...outcomes remains unknown. Understanding this psychological process is important to teachers and programme implementers to yield actionable interventions that can be used to craft effective practices for optimizing team outcomes. This is especially true in interprofessional education (IPE) in medical education, where a team-based approach to patient management is promoted. Drawing from the social-cognitive theory, we examined a hypothesized model where team cohesiveness predicts collaboration outcomes (teamwork satisfaction, overall satisfaction with the team experience, and IPE goal attainment) via collective efficacy.
We used data from Chinese medicine, medicine, nursing, and social work students in Hong Kong (n = 285) who were enrolled in IPE. They were invited to respond to scales in two time points. We performed mediation analysis using structural equations modelling to test the indirect effect model: team cohesiveness → collective efficacy → outcomes.
Results of structural equation modelling revealed that collective efficacy fully mediated the relationships between team cohesiveness and all three team outcomes, providing support for the hypothesised model RMSEA = 0.08, NFI = 0.90, CFI = 0.93, IFI = 0.93, TLI = 0.93. Team cohesiveness predicted the achievement of collaboration outcomes via collective efficacy.
The findings demonstrated the important roles of team cohesiveness and collective efficacy in promoting successful team collaboration. Team cohesiveness predicted collective efficacy, and collective efficacy, in turn, predicted collaboration outcomes. This study contributed to theorising the pathways towards successful team collaboration outcomes.
Objective: We aim to provide an up-to-date systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of cognitive stimulation (CS) on cognition, depressive symptoms, and quality of life in persons with ...dementia. Factors affecting the treatment effect were examined.
Methods: A literature search was performed on databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus, and Cochrane Library up to 7 March 2019. Only randomised controlled trials investigating the effects of CS in persons with dementia were included. The outcome measures were cognitive function, depressive symptoms, and quality of life.
Results: 20 randomised controlled trials with a total of 1251 participants (intervention group: 674; control group: 577) were included for meta-analysis. Most participants had mild to moderate dementia. CS had a significant positive small-to-moderate effect on cognition (Hedges's g = 0.313, p < 0.001). Heterogeneity of CS was low to moderate (Q=30.5854, df=19, p < 0.05, I2 = 37.877%). Inconclusive results were found for depressive symptoms and quality of life.
Conclusion: CS has a significant positive effect on cognitive function, but its effect on depressive symptoms and quality of life was inconclusive. Future studies with more robust methodology establishing evidence of its efficacy are required.
Visual stress is thought to reflect cortical excitability and has been associated with many neurological, neuropsychiatric, and neurodevelopmental conditions. However, its relationships with symptoms ...of depression and anxiety have not yet been elucidated. We conducted two separate studies to first examine visual stress in a longitudinal community sample of 104 participants (aged 12–24) in association with prospective symptoms of depression, anxiety, and distress after 3 months, and subsequently in a cross-sectional epidemiological sample of 530 participants (aged 15–24) to validate its associations with current mood and distress symptoms. The Pattern Glare Test was used to examine visual stress to three grating patterns with the spatial frequencies (SF) of 0.3, 2.3, and 9.4 cycles per degree (cpd). Other known factors of mental health, including functioning, as well as resilience, hopelessness, and loneliness, were also assessed at baseline. In both studies, we showed that perceptual distortions were highest toward the pattern with mid-SF (2.3 cpd). Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that greater visual stress was significantly associated with not only baseline but also 3-month symptom outcomes, even when accounting for age, years of education, days of no functioning, resilience, hopelessness, and loneliness. Our findings suggest the importance of visual stress in understanding and predicting poor mental health outcomes. As mental health can lead to far-reaching consequences that extend to adulthood, our findings may inform state-of-the-art innovative strategies for the prediction of poor mental health outcomes and suggest visual stress as a potential marker for early risk detection among young people.
Non-Western literature on the core competencies of mental health peer supporters remains limited. Therefore, we used a three-round Delphi study with peer supporters, service users (i.e. someone using ...peer support services) and mental health professionals to develop a core competency framework for peer supporters in the Chinese context.
The final framework included 35 core competencies, the conceptual origins of which were local (14.3%), Western (20%) and both local and Western (65.7%). They were grouped into five categories in ascending peer supporter role specificity: (1) self-care and self-development, (2) general work ethics, (3) work with others, (4) work with service users and (5) peer support knowledge.
A culturally valid mental health peer support competency framework can minimise role confusion and refine training and practice guidelines. In a Chinese context, peer supporters were valued as generic support companions, whereas functions highlighted in the West, such as role modelling, were perceived as less critical.
Abstract Premorbid adjustment is an important prognostic factor of schizophrenia. The relationships between sub-components of premorbid adjustment and outcomes on symptoms and cognition in ...first-episode schizophrenia were under-studied. In the current study, we prospectively followed up 93 patients aged 18–55 years presenting with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorder. Psychopathological and cognitive assessments were conducted at baseline, clinical stabilization, 12, 24 and 36 months. Premorbid adjustment was sub-divided into discrete functional domains, developmental stages and premorbid-course types based on ratings of the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS). The study focused on early developmental stages to minimize contamination by prodromal symptoms. Results indicated that gender differences in premorbid functioning were primarily related to early-adolescence adjustment and academic domain. Social domain was more strongly related to negative symptoms, while academic domain was more consistently linked to cognitive outcome (Wisconsin Card Sorting test and verbal fluency). Patients with stable-poor premorbid course had more severe negative symptoms and cognitive impairment. In conclusion, in a Chinese cohort of first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorder, sub-components of early premorbid adjustment were shown to be differentially related to clinical and cognitive measures. The results highlighted the importance of applying a more refined delineation of premorbid functioning in studying illness outcome.
COVID-19-related information on social media is overabundant and sometimes questionable, resulting in an "infodemic" during the pandemic. While previous studies suggest social media usage increases ...the risk of developing anxiety symptoms, how induced anxiety affects attitudes and behaviors is less discussed, let alone during a global pandemic. Little is known about the relationship between older adults using social media during a pandemic and their anxiety, their attitudes toward social trust in information, and behaviors to avoid contracting COVID-19.
The goal of this study was to investigate the associations between using social media for COVID-19-related information and anxiety symptoms as well as the mediation effect of anxiety symptoms on social trust in information and COVID-safe behaviors among older adults.
A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted in Hong Kong between May and August 2020. A rapid warm-call protocol was developed to train social workers and volunteers from participant nongovernmental organizations to conduct the telephone surveys. Questions related to COVID-safe behaviors, social trust in information, social media use, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and sociodemographic information were asked. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at the community level was used to account for the risk of contracting COVID-19. Ordinary least squares regressions examined the associations between social media use and anxiety symptoms, and how they were associated with social trust in information and COVID-safe behaviors. Structural equation modeling further mapped out these relationships to identify the mediation effects of anxiety symptoms.
This study collected information regarding 3421 adults aged 60 years and older. Use of social media for COVID-19-related information was associated with more anxiety symptoms and lower social trust in information but had no significant relationship with COVID-safe behaviors. Anxiety symptoms predicted lower social trust in information and higher COVID-safe behaviors. Lower social trust in information was predicted by using social media for COVID-19 information, mediated by anxiety symptoms, while no mediation effect was found for COVID-safe behaviors.
Older adults who rely on social media for COVID-19-related information exhibited more anxiety symptoms, while showing mixed effects on attitudes and behaviors. Social trust in information may be challenged by unverified and contradictory information online. The negligible impact on COVID-safe behaviors suggested that social media may have caused more confusion than consolidating a consistent effort against the pandemic. Media literacy education is recommended to promote critical evaluation of COVID-19-related information and responsible sharing among older adults.
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