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This study evaluated two forms of a resilience intervention amongst college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilising a randomised controlled trial design, it examined the impact of a synchronous and asynchronous resilience interventions versus a control group that did a journaling intervention. Outcomes measured included coping behaviour, non-reactivity, wellbeing, stress, depression and anxiety. Participants consisted of Filipino college students randomly assigned to three groups: synchronous online resilience group (n = 135), asynchronous resilience group (n = 121) and control group (n = 127). Results revealed that students who went through the online synchronous resilience reported a significant reduction in depression at post-intervention compared to those who went through an asynchronous intervention. Post-intervention scores for nonreactivity were also higher in the synchronous group compared to both asynchronous and journaling groups. Effect sizes were small to moderate. This study suggests that online resilience interventions are viable means to address the mental health needs of students, especially in countries with limited mental health resources.

Background: An expansive literature on community violence exposure has almost exclusively focused on its effects on children, yet little is known about the effects of exposure to community violence on parents. Similarly, a wealth of research has investigated the impact of intimate partner violence, but not community violence, on mothers. Objective: This longitudinal study investigates how mothers' exposure to community violence is associated with maternal well-being and young adolescents' internalizing and externalizing behaviors, after controlling for maternal exposure to intimate partner violence and children's exposure to violence. Methods: With a multiethnic sample of 779 mothers and children, we conducted structural equation modeling using secondary data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Results: Findings revealed that, after controlling for maternal exposure to intimate partner violence and child victimization and witnessing violence, mothers' exposure to community violence was concurrently linked to higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms. In turn, maternal depressive symptoms were longitudinally associated with higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors during preadolescence. Results also indicated a statistically significant indirect relation between mothers' witnessing of community violence and young adolescents' internalizing and externalizing behaviors through maternal depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Our findings underscore the need to adopt a broader family systems approach in examining the effects of community violence exposure and highlight the potential benefits of reducing both children's and mothers' exposure to community violence to improve mothers' psychological well-being and adolescent outcomes.

Using data from 223 Latino adolescents residing in poor, urban neighborhoods, we investigate whether spirituality, religious importance at home, and religious involvement moderate the relation between community violence exposure and psychological well-being. Results showed significant interaction effects between community violence exposure and spirituality/religiosity. Specifically, personal victimization and witnessing violence were associated with higher depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms at low and average levels of spirituality, but not at high levels of spirituality. Witnessing violence was associated with higher PTSD symptoms at low and average levels of religious importance at home, but not at high levels of religious importance at home. Finally, witnessing violence was associated with higher depressive symptoms at low and average levels of religious involvement, but not at high levels of religious involvement. We discuss the potential benefits of supporting spiritual and religious development in Latino youth exposed to community violence.

This study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of MaPaChat, a parent support intervention delivered using Viber group chat to caregivers in the Philippines during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Forty caregivers of children aged 4–17 from predominantly low‐income households participated in a culturally adapted version of the Parenting for Lifelong Health ParentChat programme. Feasibility was assessed by enrolment, attendance, and dropout rates. Semi‐structured interviews with caregivers and programme facilitators explored programme acceptability. A single‐group pre‐post design was used to explore changes in child maltreatment, positive parenting, parenting stress, and other secondary outcomes. The mean attendance rate was 82% and the dropout rate was 10%. Caregivers and facilitators found the programme helpful in enhancing parenting knowledge and skills and were satisfied with the programme delivery using Viber group chat but also reported experiencing technological challenges. Pre‐post comparisons suggested that the intervention has potential in reducing physical and emotional abuse and associated risk factors. The findings suggest that a parenting intervention delivered over digital group chat by trained community service providers may be a feasible and acceptable way to support caregivers in low‐resource settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines within‐person and cross‐person relations between depressive symptoms, harsh parenting, and parental rejection in low‐income Filipino mothers and fathers of adolescents using an actor–partner interdependence model (APIM). Mother and father dyads (N = 81, Mage = 43.48, SD = 8.66) recruited from urban neighborhoods in the Philippines completed orally administered questionnaires on depressive symptoms, harsh parenting, and rejection. Results showed that mothers' scores and fathers' scores on depressive symptoms did not significantly differ and that mothers scored significantly higher than fathers on harsh parenting and rejection. Dyadic analyses using the APIM showed that the actor effect of depressive symptoms on harsh parenting was statistically significant for fathers only and that the actor effects of depressive symptoms on rejection were statistically significant for both mothers and fathers. No partner effects on harsh parenting and rejection were statistically significant. These findings contribute to the robust evidence linking parental depressive symptoms to negative parenting behaviors and highlight the need to attend to both fathers' psychological health and mothers' psychological health in efforts to reduce harsh and rejecting parenting behaviors among Filipino parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examines the role of religiosity and familism values as moderators of the relation between past-year community violence exposure and psychological distress among low-income urban Filipino mothers. Method: Mothers (N = 116) of adolescents residing in three urban neighborhoods in the Philippines completed orally administered questionnaires measuring community violence exposure, religiosity, familism values, depressive symptoms, and anxiety. Results: A majority of the sample (83%) reported witnessing at least one instance of community violence, and about half (46%) reported being personally victimized at least once in the past year. After controlling for demographic variables, religiosity and familism significantly moderated the relation between community violence exposure and psychological distress, indicating their potential role as protective factors. Specifically, personal victimization and witnessing violence were associated with higher depressive symptoms at low and average levels of religiosity, but not at high levels of religiosity. In addition, personal victimization was associated with higher anxiety at low and average levels of religiosity and familism, but not at high levels of religiosity and familism. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the cultural significance of religious and family-oriented values in Filipino culture; these factors can be incorporated in health promotion and intervention efforts for low-income urban Filipino parents exposed to community violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Current evidence on adolescent participation in violence research has primarily measured distress, harm or upset using quantitative methods. There are relatively few studies which have employed qualitative methods to understand adolescent emotional experiences, and to articulate the experiences of participation from their own perspective., Objective: This study aimed to assess adolescents' experiences of participating in research on violence in different contexts, namely Romania, South Africa, and the Philippines., Methods: A purposive sample of adolescents (N = 53, 51 % female) were recruited from rural, urban, and peri-urban areas in Romania, the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, and Metro Manila, Philippines. Semi-structured one-on-one in-depth interviews and drawings sought adolescent perspectives on their experiences of participation, including the emotions they felt, and their perceptions of research on violence., Results: Drawing on analysis of interviews and drawings, adolescents reported a layered emotional experience, ranging from sadness, anger, apprehension, and upset, to joy, relief, and laughter. Their emotional experiences were driven by participation as a relational encounter, both with the researchers involved, as well as with other children and young people they encountered. Adolescents emphasized participation as enabling disclosure of difficult experiences, and the creation of awareness of violence., Conclusions: Adolescent perspectives of participation in research on violence are nuanced and encompass their lived experience as well as the fundamentally relational nature of participation. Adolescents experienced increased awareness of topics in violence and perceived research participation as enabling disclosure and possible help-seeking. Measures of participation impact developed along with adolescents, which reflect this complexity, are needed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest FM is an elected Board Member of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect which retains the rights to the ICAST child abuse measures., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)