Search

Background: Poor mental health has increased among adolescents in recent decades. Bullying and sexual harassment, both cyber and in-person, are each associated with increased depressive symptoms in adolescents and being victimised by co-occurring types is more common than just one single type of victimisation. The study aimed to investigate the association between co-occurring victimisation and depressive symptoms in adolescents when controlling for screen time, social support, physical activity, and personal relative affluence., Method: Cross-sectional survey data from 1211 respondents (50.1% girls) aged 15-16 were used to conduct modified Poisson regression with robust error variance analyses for girls and boys separately. Four scales were used to measure cyber and in-person bullying and sexual harassment, and CESD-R10 was used to measure depressive symptoms., Results: About 47% of girls and 20% of boys experienced all four types of victimisation, and about 12% of girls and 25% of boys experienced none of them. When controlled for all included variables, all number of victimisation types of bullying and/or sexual harassment were associated with depressive symptoms in girls. In comparison, only four types of victimisation were associated with depressive symptoms in boys., Conclusions: The study showed that co-occurring victimisation was associated with depressive symptoms even after controlling for other relevant factors in both genders. However, in girls, all numbers of victimisation were associated with depressive symptoms., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: All participants were informed about the survey’s aim and content, and informed consent was obtained before initiating the questionnaire. The Swedish Ethical Review Authority approved the study with issue number Dnr 2022-05776-01. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Background: The majority of childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) cancer survivors suffers from long-lasting health issues following cancer treatment. It is therefore critical to explore effective health promotion strategies to address their needs. Exposure to nature is a promising approach to support the needs of young cancer survivors. This study investigated whether it is feasible to conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a wilderness program for childhood and AYA cancer survivors., Methods: Eligible participants were aged 16-39 years, had a cancer diagnosis, and met minimal criteria. Seventy-one individuals expressed interest and 59 were randomized to either a wilderness or a holiday program. The wilderness program involved an 8-day expedition including backpacking, sea kayaking, gorge climbing, camping, bush-craft skills, and mindfulness-practices. It was followed by a 4-day basecamp after 3 months. The comparison was an 8-day holiday program at a Spa-hotel followed by a 4-day holiday program at the same hotel after 3 months. Primary outcome was study feasibility and safety., Results: Ultimately, 19 AYAs participated in the wilderness and 23 in the holiday program. All completed the study at one-year follow-up. Participants were mostly female (70%) and represented diverse cancers. Clinical characteristics were similar between study arms excepting greater age at cancer diagnosis in the wilderness program (age 19.1 vs. 12.5; p = 0.024). Program adherence and data completeness was high (> 90%) in both arms. Adverse Effects (AEs) in the wilderness vs. the holiday program were similar (Relative Risk: 1.0, 95% Confidence Interval 0.8-1.3). The most frequent AE was tiredness, all were mild to moderate in severity, and serious AEs were not reported. Nature connectedness significantly increased over time in the wilderness program participants, but not in the holiday program (p < 0.001). No differences were found between the two study arms regarding quality of life, self-esteem, or self-efficacy., Conclusion: It is feasible to conduct a RCT and a supervised wilderness adventure is equally safe for childhood and AYA cancer survivors as a holiday program. This pilot study lays the foundation for a larger RCT to investigate the effectiveness of wilderness programs on the health of young cancer survivors., Trial Registration Date and Number: 18/02/2021, NCT04761042 (clinicaltrials.gov)., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health problem. Electronic empowerment has several positive impacts on health. No study has examined whether electronic empowerment prevents intimate partner violence. Economic empowerment has positive and negative effects on IPV victimization. The current study was conducted to investigate whether economic and electronic empowerment of women act as protective factors against IPV in India., Methods: A national representative sample of 66,013 ever-married women from 36 member states and union territories of India has been used from the National Family Health Survey 2015 to 2016. Emotional, physical and sexual violence against women by husbands were target variables. We used bivariate and multivariate analyses., Results: The prevalence of emotional violence was 13%, physical violence was 28% and sexual violence was 7%. IPV against women was as follows: The prevalence was higher among women living in rural areas, belonging to Hindu religion and those belonging to Scheduled Castes. Higher education and higher socio-economic status were found to be protective factors against IPV. The prevalence of IPV was higher among the working women, among those having knowledge of business loans for women and the recipients of such business loans. Exposure to media was found to reduce IPV. The women who used mobile phones and SMS facility experienced less violence., Conclusion: Economic independence of women was found to be a risk factor for IPV in India, whereas electronic empowerment was a protective factor. In the Indian context, policymakers should make use of mobile phones and support SMS use in the IPV awareness programs. Women empowerment, combined with gender equity, can reduce the prevalence of violence against women., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Studies of co-occurrence of online and offline victimisation of bullying and sexual harassment and its associations to mental health outcomes among youth are scarce. To inform future study designs, the aim of this brief communication was to map co-occurrence of online and offline bullying and sexual harassment victimisation among adolescents. Data were collected in 2011 in nine schools in Northern Sweden, n = 1193 (boys = 566; girls = 627). Absolute and relative frequencies were calculated to find combinations of victimisation: one, two, three, or four forms. Reflecting a picture of the early days of online victimisation, in total fifty seven percent (57%) of adolescents were victimised. Single occurrence victimisation was 21.2% (offline sexual harassment was most common irrespective of gender), showing that most youths were victimised in a co-occurrence of two or more forms. Seven percent (7%) were victimised by all four forms of victimisation. Offline sexual harassment victimisation was present in the most common co-occurrences. Directions for future studies of victimisation and its associations to mental health outcomes are discussed.

Introduction: The majority of childhood, adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors suffer from long-term and late effects such as fatigue, psychological distress or comorbid diseases. Effective health promotion strategies are needed to support the health of this vulnerable group. This protocol provides a methodological description of a study that aims to examine the feasibility and safety of performing a randomised clinical trial (RCT) on a wilderness programme that is developed to support the health of AYA cancer survivors., Methods and Analysis: The pilot RCT study has a mixed-method design, including quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Participants are AYAs, aged 16-39 years, that have been diagnosed with cancer during childhood, adolescence or young adulthood. A total of 40 participants will be randomly assigned to a wilderness programme (n=20) or a holiday programme (n=20). Both arms include participation in an 8-day summer programme, followed by a 4-day programme 3 months later. Primary outcomes are feasibility and safety parameters such as time to recruitment, willingness to be randomised, programme adherence and adverse effects. Secondary outcomes include self-reported health such as self-esteem, quality of life, self-efficacy and lived experiences. Descriptive statistics will be used to analyse outcomes and explore indications of differences between the programmes. Interviews are analysed by directed content analysis and hermeneutic phenomenology. A convergent parallel mixed-method analysis design will be applied to integrate quantitative and qualitative data. Results of this feasibility study will inform the preparation for a larger RCT with AYA cancer survivors., Ethics and Dissemination: The study protocol is approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (reference: 2020-00239). This study will be performed between January 2021 and December 2023. Results will be published in international peer-reviewed journals, presented at conferences and disseminated to participants, cancer societies, healthcare professionals and outdoor instructors., Trial Registration Number: NCT04761042., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)