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In Part 1 of this UK-based study, across four timepoints between March and October 2020, autistic children and young people showed higher levels of parent-reported depression and anxiety symptoms than those with other special educational needs and disabilities. In this study, we draw on qualitative data from 478 parents/carers of autistic pupils and those with other special educational needs and disabilities to conduct a longitudinal qualitative content analysis examining stability and change in the mental health of these young people, and their parents/carers, during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Worry and psychological distress were dominant categories at all timepoints and we noted that, in line with quantitative findings, worry in autistic pupils stayed stable over time but decreased for those with other special educational needs and disabilities. The third dominant category was wellbeing and we saw evidence that removing demands, especially the demand to attend school, was a driver of wellbeing for a significant minority of pupils, particularly autistic pupils, and their parents/carers. Overall, we observed no differences in mental health experiences between the two groups of parents, also mirroring quantitative findings. We know that autistic children and young people, and their caregivers, are at increased risk of mental ill health. We asked whether the first 6 months of COVID-19 exacerbated that risk, and whether the implications were different for autistic pupils and their caregivers, than for those with other special educational needs and difficulties. In a linked paper, we found that caregivers of autistic pupils reported higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms in their children than parents of children with other special educational needs and difficulties (Toseeb & Asbury, 2022). For pupils with other special educational needs and difficulties, their parent-reported anxiety symptoms eased over time while remaining high throughout for autistic pupils. There were no differences in mental health and wellbeing between caregivers of autistic pupils and those with other special educational needs and difficulties. Here, we used parents' written descriptions of their own and their child's mental health during the first 6 months of COVID-19 to explore these linked findings in greater depth. We identified strong evidence of worry and distress for all, but most prominently autistic children and young people. Our finding that worry and distress declined over time for pupils with other special educational needs and difficulties, but not for autistic pupils, was supported and we observed a few differences between caregivers. We also found evidence of wellbeing throughout the sample, and examples of some (mainly autistic) pupils benefitting from a reduction in demands (e.g. going to school). This has implications for our understanding of the school experience for autistic pupils. Findings suggest that the mental health of autistic children and young people may have been disproportionately affected during the first 6 months of COVID-19 and that careful consideration of optimal support, from both health and education perspectives, is vital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although religious involvement tends to be associated with improved mental health, additional work is needed to identify the specific aspects of religious practice that are associated with positive mental health outcomes. Our study advances the literature by investigating how two unique forms of religious social support are associated with mental health. Purpose: We explore whether support received in religious settings from fellow congregants or religious leaders is associated with participants' mental health. We address questions that are not only of interest to religion scholars, but that may also inform religious leaders and others whose work involves understanding connections between religious factors and psychological outcomes within religious communities. Methods: We test several hypotheses using original data from the "Mental Health in Congregations Study (2017–2019)", a survey of Christian and Jewish congregants from South Texas and the Washington DC area (N = 1882). Surveys were collected using both paper and online surveys and included an extensive battery of religious and mental health measures. Results: Congregant support has more robust direct associations with mental health outcomes than faith leader support. Increased congregant support is significantly associated (p < 0.001) with fewer symptoms of psychological distress (β = − 0.168), anxiety (β = − 0.159), and anger (β = − 0.190), as well as greater life satisfaction (β = 0.269) and optimism (β = 0.283). However, faith leader support moderates these associations such that congregant support is associated with better mental health only in cases where faith leader support is also high. When leader support is low, congregant support and mental health are not associated. Conclusions and Implications: At the conceptual level, our study adds to an extensive literature on the relationship between religious social support and mental health. Additionally, our work may provide important insights to religious leadership in terms of communications strategies, services, and resources that might enhance overall congregant mental health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: There is mixed evidence on the psychological effects of video games. While excessive use can be harmful, moderate use can have emotional, psychological and social benefits, with games successfully used in treating anxiety and depression. More data are required to understand how and for whom these benefits occur. This paper aims to identify correlations between video game genre, player demographics, wellbeing, and the in-play psychological processes for adult players. Method: Adult gamers (n = 2107) completed an anonymous cross-sectional survey canvassing play style, genre, perception of psychological impact and mechanisms (wellbeing, self-determination and flow). A multivariate multiple regression model explored correlations. Results: 88.4% of participants experienced emotional benefits from gaming, with stronger benefits experienced by younger players in all categories. The genres most strongly correlated with psychological benefits were music games, role-playing games and survival horror games. Multiplayer online battle arena games had lower scores for psychological and emotional wellbeing. Conclusions: Certain genres have stronger correlations with beneficial mechanisms, while some may be detrimental to players. These results may guide experimental studies to measure the directionality and strength of these correlations and can also impact practical aspects in development of therapeutic games to treat mental distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has created considerable implications for healthcare staff around the globe. During the pandemic, the frontline healthcare workers experience intense anxiety, stress, burnout, and psychological breakdown, with severe implications on their mental and physical well-being. In addition to these implications, anxiety and stress can hinder their productivity and ability to perform their duties efficiently. The literature indicates that hospital gardens and contact with nature can help alleviate psychological distress among hospital staff. However, few studies investigated the role of outdoor spaces as areas for respite and work breaks in healthcare facilities during the pandemic. The present opinion paper highlights the challenges of job stress and psychological distress health workers face during the pandemic. This article also underscores the role of hospital outdoor spaces and garden facilities in coping with the challenges. While other measures to reduce stress among hospital staff and ensure their health and safety are important, hospital administrators and relevant government agencies should also emphasize the provision of gardens and open spaces in healthcare facilities. These spaces can act as potential areas for respite for hospital staff to help them cope with the stress and anxiety accumulated through working under crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have established a link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and mental health issues in college students. However, less is known about how positive childhood experiences (PCEs) may promote mental health and well-being, and potentially act as a buffer in the relationship between risk exposure and poor outcomes. This study investigates how ACEs and PCEs relate to college students' mental health (N = 321), within the framework of Resiliency Theory with specific attention focus on the compensatory and the protective factors models. Three key hypotheses were examined using quantitative data collected by way of an online anonymous survey: (1) ACEs will predict poorer mental health outcomes; (2) PCEs will predict better mental health outcomes and will lessen the negative effects of ACEs on mental health outcomes (compensatory factor model), and (3) PCEs will moderate the association between ACEs and mental health outcomes so that the relationship will be weaker among participants with higher PCEs (protective factor model). Findings supported each of these hypotheses and are important for our understanding of the long-term mental health correlates of ACEs and PCEs among college students. Our study underscores the importance of promoting PCEs while also underscoring the necessity of proactively preventing ACEs. Practical implications are discussed in relation to improving assessments of student needs and providing targeted interventions for those at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Republicans and conservatives report better self-rated health and well-being compared to Democrats and liberals, yet they are more likely to reside in geographic areas with heavy COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. This harmed health on "both sides" of political divides, occurring in a time of rapid sociopolitical upheaval, warrants the revisiting of psychosocial mechanisms linked to political health differences. Drawing on national Gallup data (early 2021), we find that predicted differences in health or well-being vary substantially by ideology, party, voting behavior, and policy beliefs, with model fit depending on how politics are measured. Differences in self-rated health, psychological distress, happiness, trouble sleeping, and delayed health care tend to reveal worse outcomes for Democrats or liberals. Such differences often are reduced to insignificance by some combination of mastery, meritocratic beliefs, perceived social support, and COVID-19–related exposures and attitudes. Policy beliefs predict health differences most robustly across outcomes and mechanism adjustments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Executive Summary: Home and community gardening is emerging as a beneficial intervention for resettled refugee populations. Using an interdisciplinary lens, we examined whether gardening influences mental health, food security, and economic well-being. A mixed methods study (n = 29) was conducted with quantitative surveys to assess indicators of mental health, food security, and economic well-being. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews explored gardener participants' experience of gardening benefits (n = 10). Participants had on average been in the United States for seven and a half years, with most having lived in refugee camps prior to arrival. Findings showed gardeners reporting fewer symptoms of anxiety, depression, and trauma, and lesser food insecurity than non-gardeners, and similar indicators of economic well-being. Non-parametric regression analysis showed that being a gardener significantly predicted less psychological distress. Qualitative data substantiated these findings with gardeners reporting improved mental health, closer family, social relationships and connections with culture, and more access to fresh and organic food. The multiple, simultaneous benefits of gardening reported here provide strong support for building community-based health promotion programs to assist refugee integration, including long after arrival. The study further highlights the importance of examining these interrelated factors of mental health, food security, and economic well-being simultaneously and reevaluating the established goals of refugee resettlement, particularly in the United States. We offer the following recommendations: • Policymakers and refugee resettlement practitioners should integrate culturally appropriate community-based health promotion efforts in refugee programs long after the initial resettlement period. • Researchers on refugee integration outcomes should include interdisciplinary perspectives that offer comprehensive understanding of processes related to health outcomes. • Policymakers on refugee resettlement and integration should consider the linkages between mental health, food security, and economic well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how different living/eating arrangements were associated with loneliness and depressive symptoms among older Korean immigrants. We examined gender differences considering: (1) patterns of living/eating arrangements and their relations with loneliness and mental distress and (2) indirect effect of living/eating arrangements on mental distress through feeling lonely. Data were drawn from the Study of Older Korean Americans that surveyed older; Korean immigrants during 2017–2018 (N = 2150). Living/eating arrangements were classified in the combination of four categores. Using the PROCESS macro, we tested gender differences in the mediation effect of loneliness on the relationship between living/eating arrangements and mental distress while controlling for background/health characteristics and social connectedness-related variables. The mediating role of loneliness was manifested differentially between men and women. By administering simple measures of living/eating arrangements, practitioners could potentially identify key targets to improve social and mental well-being, particularly among older immigrants with limited resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative emotions are known risk factors for physical health, psychological distress (e.g. hopelessness and feeling worthless), and mood disorders (e.g. depression and anxiety). Thus, it is important for athletic coaches, one of the most stressful occupations, to understand how to cope with their negative emotions. This study aimed to examine the moderating roles of four different coping strategies (emotion-focused, problem-focused, proactive, and emotive suppression) on the relationship between negative emotions and psychological well-being. Online survey data were collected from 162 athletic head coaches working in NCAA Division I through questionnaires that assessed the proposed variables. The results reported that proactive coping strategy and emotive suppression strategy negatively and significantly moderated the negative emotional–psychological well-being relationship. The findings of this study contribute to understanding the coping strategies that should be avoided in response to negative emotions among coaches. The results also highlight the need to consider adopting existing proactive coping intervention programs for coaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Resilience, a person's ability to adapt to adverse events, is associated with positive outcomes, especially in the field of healthcare. Research into the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may help to understand and combat the long-term mental health burden for trainees in health care. Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the impact of the pandemic on health profession students' educational experiences, determine the association between their self-reported resilience and psychological distress and assess group differences between students from different graduate health profession programs in an academic medical center. Methods: Graduate health profession students completed a 44-question online survey and the 10-item Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10) during the COVID-19 pandemic period between January-March 2021. We used descriptive statistics, independent samples t test, Related-samples Wilcoxon signed rank test, Pearson correlations test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyze the data. Results: Majority of respondents reported that COVID-19 had a negative impact on their education and caused a reduction in educational opportunities (76.6% and 73% respectively). Majority also reported feeling burned out, lonely/isolated, or frustrated by COVID-19 restrictions (70.0%, 67.4%, and 61.8% respectively). Students reported increased use of both avoidant and adaptive coping strategies during the pandemic. Higher resilience scores were associated with higher self-reported stress, fewer burnout symptoms, and better overall well-being. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected students in graduate health profession programs. Instructional quality, educational opportunities, institutional trust, peer socialization, and personal health and wellbeing were perceived to be negatively impacted. Students may require additional support and resources from their training programs to mitigate these concerns. Future studies should evaluate the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among pandemic-era graduate health profession students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the association between self-rated mental health (SRMH) and psychological distress (PD) at multiple periods and subsequently assess the potential of SRMH as a screening tool. Method: Staff working at a designated COVID-19 hospital in Sydney, Australia during March to May 2020 completed the SRMH and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) within a larger survey examining the pandemic's impact on health and well-being. SRMH was assessed before the pandemic (baseline), during its first peak in 2020 (time 2) and several months later (time 3). K10 was assessed for time 2 and time 3. All assessments took place at time 3. Results: At time 2, 80% of respondents with high PD and 25% with low PD reported poor SRMH (χ2 = 21.3, p <.0001). At time 3, 90% with low PD reported good SRMH. Risk of high PD was greater for respondents with persistently poor SRMH (time 2: OR = 18.2, 95% CI = 7.7–42.8; time 3: OR = 14.4, 95% CI = 6.9–29.9) and, to a lesser extent, for those whose SRMH declined (time 2: OR = 11.6, 95% CI = 6.6–20.4; time 3: OR = 13.8, 95% CI = 2.9–66.9), compared to those with persistently good SRMH. Conclusions: During a crisis SRMH can identify the majority of those most likely to benefit from additional assessment and support. Persistently poor SRMH indicates highest risk, detectable from routine screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting athlete wellbeing has become a priority in elite sport, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the need for a comprehensive understanding of risk and protective factors. Existing sport research has not yet considered whether specific cognitive factors such as dispositional mindfulness and executive function may protect athletes against psychological distress. In a sample of high-performance Australian football athletes (n = 27), we administered measures of dispositional mindfulness (MAAS), executive function (AOSPAN; eStroop), and psychological distress (APSQ) at pre-season, coinciding with the initial (2020) COVID-19-related sport shutdown in Australia. Measures of executive function and psychological distress were re-administered at the end of the COVID-19 affected competitive season in 2020. Athletes reported significantly elevated psychological distress relative to previous estimates of distress among high-performance athletes established in prior studies. Executive functions, including working memory and inhibitory control were not significantly associated with psychological distress or dispositional mindfulness at either timepoint. However, baseline mindfulness was associated with reduced distress at both pre-season (r = −0.48, p =.03) and end of season (r = −0.56, p =.004), suggesting that dispositional mindfulness may have afforded protective buffering against symptoms of distress. Correlation data alone does not establish a directional connection from mindfulness to reduced distress, and future research is required to elucidate this association and/or establish the mechanism/s by which dispositional mindfulness may protect against psychological distress in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationship between material adversities due to pandemic crisis, institutional trust, and subjective well-being and mental health among middle-aged and older adults aged 50+ in Europe. The study used a cross-sectional design to examine Eurofound COVID-19 survey data collected from 27 European countries in April 2020. A total of 31,757 European middle aged and older adults aged 50 + were analyzed (Mean = 59.99, SD = 7.03). Analysis focused on the financial impact and material security in relation to pandemic lockdown, institutional trust (news media, police, national government, European Union, and healthcare system), and subjective well-being and mental health. Regression analysis indicated perceived insecurity in employment and housing, worsening finances, and difficulty paying for basic necessities were significantly related to respondents' life satisfaction, happiness, self-rated health, mental health index, and psychological distress. Institutional trust partially mediated the relationship between perceived adversities and subjective well-being and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Mothers of young children have been identified as a particularly vulnerable group during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to explore how occupational, psychosocial and partnership-related factors were associated with their self-reported mental well-being during the first COVID-19 wave. Methods: Five hundred fifty participants of the BaBi cohort study (est. 2013, Bielefeld, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany) were invited to complete an online survey and to take part in email interviews (April–May 2020). With survey data, we assessed self-reported mental well-being through validated instruments (eight-item Patient Health Questionnaire; short version of the Symptom Checklist) and ran linear regression models for occupational, psychosocial and partnership-related factors. We performed content analysis on the interviews’ data to further understand the determinants of the women’s mental well-being. Results: One hundred twenty-four women participated in the survey; of which 17 also participated in the interviews. A perceived lack of support in childcare was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, while having a higher internal locus of control was associated with lower levels. Psychological distress was higher in those reporting lack of emotional or childcare support. Interviews confirmed the interplay of potential stressors and highlighted the difficulties to reconcile different expectations of motherhood. Discussion: Occupational, psychosocial and partner-related factors can act (to varying degree) both as resources and stressors to the self-reported mental well-being of mothers of young children. These impacts took different forms and created opportunities or challenges, depending on specific life circumstances, such as work or family situations, relationships and own psychosocial resources. Although not representative, our study contributes to building the COVID-19 evidence base, delineating the mental health toll of the pandemic on mothers of young children and the factors that contribute to it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]