Search

This study aims to determine the difference in post-traumatic growth (PTG) and resilience scores of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors according to their age, gender, and treatment duration, and also the relationship between PTG and resilience. This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in the pediatric hematology and oncology polyclinic of a university hospital. The study consisted of 78 AYAs in the 12-25 age group whose cancer treatment had been completed. AYA survivors were requested to complete the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), the Child and Youth Resilience Measure-28 (CYRM-28) and the demographic questionnaire. Pearson correlation and regression analysis were used to determine the relationship between PTG and resilience. 69.2% of the AYAs participating in the study were 16-25 years old, 60.3% were male, and 55.1% had high school education. Leukemias (39.7%), lymphomas (33.3%) and solid tumors (10.3%) were found to be the top three diagnoses of AYAs. It was found that 46.3% of the AYAs had received chemotherapy and radiotherapy and 67.9% had been treated for more than 1 year. The mean scale scores of AYAs were 85.83 ± 14.71 for PTGI and 123.03 ± 10.72 for CYRM-28. A high level of positive correlation was found between PTGI mean scores and CYRM-28 mean scores. It was determined that the PTGI score of AYAs increased as their CYRM-28 score increased., Author(s): Sevcan Atay Turan [sup.1] , Sureyya Sarvan [sup.1] , Arzu Akcan [sup.1] , Elif Guler [sup.2] , Birsen Say [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/01m59r132, grid.29906.34, 0000 0001 0428 6825, [...]

This study examined the construct validity of the Autism Classification System of Functioning: Social Communication (ACSF). Participants included 145 parents of children with autism (2-19 years). The degree of convergent and discriminant validity between parent reported ACSF and subscales from Social Responsiveness Scale 2nd edition and Behavior Assessment System for Children, 3rd Edition were examined against a priori hypotheses. We examined construct validity in the entire sample as well as in specific age cohorts. Our findings suggest that ACSF can provide a valid classification system of social communication ability in children with autism 2-19 years of age, and its two subscales may be used to examine different aspects of social communication ability., Author(s): Diana Tajik-Parvinchi [sup.1] [sup.9] , Peter Rosenbaum [sup.2] , Mary Jo Cooley Hidecker [sup.3] , Eric Duku [sup.4] , Lonnie Zwaigenbaum [sup.5] , Caroline Roncadin [sup.6] , Stelios Georgiades [...]

The 2016-2018 National Surveys of Children's Health dataset was used to identify associations among preventive care, unmet health care needs, medical home access, and emergency department (ED) use among children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Results indicated that youth with ASD had higher odds of using ED services if they had unmet mental health care needs (OR = 1.58, CI: 1.04-2.39) and lower odds of using ED services if they had access to a medical home (OR = 0.79, CI: 0.63-0.98). Findings suggest the importance of access to coordinated, comprehensive, and patient-centered care to address health care needs and prevent ED utilization among children and adolescents with ASD., Author(s): Natalie M. Badgett [sup.1] [sup.2] , Elenora Sadikova [sup.1] , Michelle Menezes [sup.1] , Micah O. Mazurek [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.27755.32, 0000 0000 9136 933X, University of Virginia, [...]

Limited guidance is available for families of youth with ASD (YASD) to prepare for invasive medical procedures. This study examined caregiver perspectives regarding YASD's gastrointestinal endoscopy (GE) experience to improve the endoscopy experience for YASD. Thirty-four caregivers of YASD, (M = 9.85 years, SD = 4.6) who underwent GE at Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego between May 2018 and July 2019 (identified via electronic health record) participated in a structured phone interview. Caregivers reported a positive experience due to the procedural team's responsiveness to the needs of YASD and appropriately answering/addressing questions/concerns. Caregivers reported a need for ASD-specific information on how to prepare for GE. Specific recommendations are discussed. Study findings offer strategies to improve the care experience of YASD undergoing GE., Author(s): Tierney Kim [sup.1] , Kassandra Martinez [sup.2] [sup.3] , Breanna Lopez Cruz [sup.4] , Jeannie S. Huang [sup.5] [sup.6] , Nicole A. Stadnick [sup.3] [sup.5] [sup.7] Author Affiliations: (1) [...]

This study proposes a revision (R) of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for youth with ID (CESD-ID) in English and French. 346 youth (36.02% girls) with mild (51.26%) and moderate (48.78%) ID (11-22 years; M = 15.69), enrolled in secondary schools in Canada (French-speaking; n = 115), and Australia (English-speaking; n = 231), as well as their parents and teachers, participated in this study. Results support the reliability, factor validity, equivalence (sex, ID level, comorbidities, and country), and convergent validity (with youth-, parent-, and teacher-rated measures of depression, anxiety, and loneliness/social isolation) of the CESD-ID-R. The CESD-ID-R allows youth with ID to provide a reliable and valid assessment of their depressive mood and happiness suitable for epidemiological studies., Author(s): Elizabeth Olivier [sup.1] , Corina Lacombe [sup.2] , Alexandre J. S. Morin [sup.3] , Simon A. Houle [sup.3] , Cynthia Gagnon [sup.4] , Danielle Tracey [sup.5] , Rhonda G. [...]

Knowledge is needed about specific supports and barriers for successful transitions to adulthood for autistic youth, especially from the perspective of parents, who are highly involved in transition preparation. We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of previously conducted semi-structured interviews with 39 parents of 41 autistic adolescents to identify themes related to supports and barriers; we then used Bronfenbrenner's Ecological System's Theory to aid in interpreting the themes. We identified three main supports and four main barriers to the transition to adulthood from the parent interviews. The supports and barriers represent factors to consider at each theorized ecological level. Results point to opportunities to promote person-environment fit and support the transition to adulthood for autistic youth at multiple system levels., Author(s): Jenna M. Hoffman [sup.1] , Anne V. Kirby [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) Ensign Therapy Group, , 92675, San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA (2) grid.223827.e, 0000 0001 2193 0096, Department [...]

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. The associations between the cerebellum and clinical traits remain unclear. We performed amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) analysis to explore the associations between spontaneous brain activity and clinical traits. 361 juvenile ASD patients were included from the ABIDEII database. In the ASD group, the mean ALFF values of cerebellum 4 5 were correlated with SRS awareness and communication. The mean ALFF values of cerebellum 6 and vermis 4 5 were both positively correlated with SRS total, awareness, communication, and motivation. In contrast, the mean ALFF values of vermis 1 2 were negatively correlated with SRS total, awareness, and mannerisms. Our study suggests a role of the cerebellum in functional impairments in ASD., Author(s): Jinglun Li [sup.1] [sup.2] , Xiu Chen [sup.1] [sup.2] , Ruwen Zheng [sup.3] , Ai Chen [sup.4] [sup.5] , Yan Zhou [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.6] , Jianghai Ruan [sup.1] [sup.2] [...]

Teaching parents how to create their own video-prompting (VP) and implement it to help their children learn daily living tasks at home can be empowering for parents. Using a multiple probe across three tasks design, we examined the effects of parent-created and parent-implemented VP and error correction strategy on teaching three daily living tasks to a 14-year-old child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Following a one-time training and continuous coaching, a parent successfully created a VP intervention for all three tasks and implemented VP with error correction with high fidelity. Following the intervention implementation, the child with ASD learned to complete daily living tasks with high levels of accuracy and maintained task completion at a 1-week follow-up., Author(s): Gulnoza Yakubova [sup.1] [sup.2] , Briella Baer Chen [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.164295.d, 0000 0001 0941 7177, University of Maryland, , College Park, USA (2) grid.164295.d, 0000 0001 0941 [...]

Background Suicidal ideation is a major risk for a suicide attempt in younger people, such that reducing severity of ideation is an important target for suicide prevention. Smartphone applications present a new opportunity for managing ideation in young adults; however, confirmatory evidence for efficacy from randomized trials is lacking. The objective of this study was to assess whether a therapeutic smartphone application ('LifeBuoy') was superior to an attention-matched control application at reducing the severity of suicidal ideation. Methods and findings In this 2-arm parallel, double-blind, randomized controlled trial, 455 young adults from Australia experiencing recent suicidal ideation and aged 18 to 25 years were randomly assigned in a 2:2 ratio to use a smartphone application for 6 weeks in May 2020, with the final follow-up in October 2020. The primary outcome was change in suicidal ideation symptom severity scores from baseline (T0) to postintervention (T1) and 3-month postintervention follow-up (T2), measured using the Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale (SIDAS). Secondary outcomes were symptom changes in depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9, PHQ-9), generalized anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, GAD-7), distress (Distress Questionnaire-5, DQ5), and well-being (Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, SWEMWBS). This trial was conducted online, using a targeted social media recruitment strategy. The intervention groups were provided with a self-guided smartphone application based on dialectical behavior therapy (DBT; 'LifeBuoy') to improve emotion regulation and distress tolerance. The control group were provided a smartphone application that looked like LifeBuoy ('LifeBuoy-C'), but delivered general (nontherapeutic) information on a range of health and lifestyle topics. Among 228 participants randomized to LifeBuoy, 110 did not complete the final survey; among 227 participants randomized to the control condition, 91 did not complete the final survey. All randomized participants were included in the intent-to-treat analysis for the primary and secondary outcomes. There was a significant time x condition effect for suicidal ideation scores in favor of LifeBuoy at T1 (p < 0.001, d = 0.45) and T2 (p = 0.007, d = 0.34). There were no superior intervention effects for LifeBuoy on any secondary mental health outcomes from baseline to T1 or T2 [p-values: 0.069 to 0.896]. No serious adverse events (suicide attempts requiring medical care) were reported. The main limitations of the study are the lack of sample size calculations supporting the study to be powered to detect changes in secondary outcomes and a high attrition rate at T2, which may lead efficacy to be overestimated. Conclusions LifeBuoy was associated with superior improvements in suicidal ideation severity, but not secondary mental health outcomes, compared to the control application, LifeBuoy-C. Digital therapeutics may need to be purposefully designed to target a specific health outcome to have efficacy. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12619001671156, Author(s): Michelle Torok 1,*, Jin Han 1, Lauren McGillivray 1, Quincy Wong 2, Aliza Werner-Seidler 1, Bridianne O'Dea 1, Alison Calear 3, Helen Christensen 1 Introduction Young people have repeatedly [...]

Editor's Note: The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) strives to provide up-to-date and relevant information on environmental health and to build partnerships in the profession. In pursuit of these goals, [...]