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This study examined the experiences of immigrant parents seeking asylum in the United States after recently fleeing the Northern Triangle region of Central America, attending both to the traumatic events and the strengths that mitigate this experience. The study employs a convergent parallel mixed-methods design to describe the experiences of 51 parents after being processed by U.S. immigration officials for seeking asylum. Quantitative analyses measured trauma exposure and psychological distress and posttraumatic stress symptoms, as well as religiosity, dispositional optimism, and perceived quality of life. Qualitative analyses examined migratory experiences more deeply. Quantitative findings suggest that participants displayed high levels of resilience as evidenced by the low endorsement of mental health symptoms associated with trauma despite high violence and trauma exposure. Qualitative analyses revealed two themes underscoring strengths that mitigated the compounded trauma experienced by participants, including: (a) protective factors, and (b) plans for the future. In addition, several subthemes emerged within each of these broader themes. Qualitative findings highlight that asylum seekers come to the United States for the sake of their families, especially their children. Participants shared their desire to ensure the safety of their family and children and their hope of being better able to take care of them. These desires and hopes common among participants in our study not only motivated them to leave their home countries but also helped them to press forward in their journeys. Study results show that religiosity, hope, and optimism also played important roles in sustaining these immigrant parents during their journeys.

Forced migrants suffer from significant psychological distress. However, they often prioritize urgent practical resettlement needs over mental health needs. The present study used a quasi-experimental design to compare pathways of treatment for survivors of torture (N = 369) from 42 different counties receiving care from a refugee health clinic. Random intercept ANOVAs were used to compare combined case management services and psychological treatment (CM-PT) to case management services only (CM) on changes in cultural adaptation and global functioning over time. Results showed that both groups improved on each outcome. Importantly, the CM-PT group endorsed greater improvements in cultural adaptation (b = 0.28, 95% CI 0.14, 0.41, p ≤ 0.001) and global functioning (b = 3.29, 95% CI 1.33, 5.25, p = 0.001) compared to the CM group. These findings suggest that treatment for survivors of torture should be multifaceted and include case management and psychological treatment. Case management services alone may be beneficial when socio-cultural and resource barriers exist for mental health treatment.

Schools play a vital role in the acculturation process of newly migrated youth. Social and academic factors within school settings predict a wide variety of adaptation outcomes. Age and grade also impact the ways that school experiences can shape the post-migration adjustment trajectories of migrant youth. Negative school experiences can exacerbate migration trauma, whereas positive school experiences play an important protective role in overcoming migration-related challenges and adjusting to a new cultural context. Emerging research also suggests that the school environment presents a valuable opportunity for service delivery, as students are readily accessible during the school day which reduces systemic barriers to engagement. Socio-emotional prevention and intervention can address migration trauma, foster resiliency, and help lead the way to acculturative and academic success. Teachers, counselors, coaches and mentors who engage with newcomer immigrant youth in schools can play a pivotal role in easing migration-related challenges by encouraging positive emotional attachments, linking to resources, and helping to navigate new systems. These professionals benefit from specialized training on the unique needs and best practices for supporting the learning, engagement, development, and adaptation of newcomer youth.

Research suggests that media adherence to suicide reporting recommendations in the aftermath of a highly publicized suicide event can help reduce the risk of imitative behavior, yet there exists no standardized tool for assessing adherence to these standards. The Tool for Evaluating Media Portrayals of Suicide (TEMPOS) allows media professionals, researchers, and suicide prevention experts to assess adherence to the recommendations with a user-friendly, standardized rating scale. An interdisciplinary team of raters constructed operational definitions for three levels of adherence to each of the reporting recommendations and piloted the scale on a sample of articles to assess reliability and clarify scale definitions. TEMPOS was then used to evaluate 220 news articles published during a high-risk period following the suicide deaths of two public figures. Post-hoc analyses of the results demonstrated how data produced by TEMPOS can be used to inform research and public health efforts, and inter-rater reliability analyses revealed substantial agreement across raters and criteria. A novel, wide-reaching, and practical approach to suicide prevention, TEMPOS allows researchers, suicide prevention professionals, and media professionals to study how adherence varies across contexts and can be used to guide future efforts to decrease the risk of media-induced suicide contagion.

The Central African Republic (CAR) is a country with a long history of violent conflict, extreme poverty, and little to no mental health infrastructure for a population with profound exposure to ongoing trauma. In 2015, 70% of the population was displaced internally or to surrounding countries, and 80% had witnessed violence. An empirical study of mental health in CAR found that 50% to 80% of the population reported clinically significant anxiety or depression. Such epidemiological data suggest extremely high levels of distress, yet more culturally relevant information is needed to better understand contextual responses to trauma, and associated mental health needs. To address this empirical gap, the present study engaged in a collaborative partnership with humanitarian organizations and local religious groups in CAR to conduct a series of focus groups with community members. Qualitative exploratory research methodology was used, as it can inform the development and delivery of intervention, and shape policy initiatives to increase mental health endeavors that promote healing from trauma. Focus group discussions were recorded, transcribed, and then coded, resulting in 3 primary themes: safety/disarmament and reestablishing education; traumatic experiences of physiological arousal and generalized distress; and subsequent idioms of distress and lack of mental health treatment or availability of services. These themes illustrate the importance of further developing and maintaining systems that provide safety, education, and mental and physical health care services to the general population in CAR. Ongoing conflict jeopardizes the formation of new systems, and investment in established systems that need improvements and resources. Without government and political support, these endeavors will continue to languish until peace and stability is widespread throughout the country.

Qualitative interview data were used to explore parental separation and coping strategies among newcomer immigrant adolescents. Participants included 58 newcomer immigrant adolescents from 21 countries of origin. Authors used archival data from students enrolled in two public high schools in a large northeastern city in the United States that exclusively serve international students. The qualitative data were collected from an in-depth semi-structured interview. Interviews were analyzed using a directed content analysis approach with Lazarus and Folkman’s model of coping as the initial framework to identify key themes. Qualitative analysis explored two themes of coping strategies, emotion-focused and problem-focused; subtheme analysis identified six distinct emotion-focused and four distinct problem-focused strategies. A chi-square test of independence showed no significant difference in use of coping strategies between participants who had been separated from their families compared with those who had not. Findings suggest that the types of coping strategies newcomer immigrant adolescents use may be highly influenced by a multitude of individual and environmental factors. Results support the need for interventions that bolster culturally congruent coping strategies such as social support and activity engagement.

Summary Objective This systematic review aimed to clarify whether there are any significant long-term sequelae to wearing mandibular advancement devices focusing on dental and skeletal effects in adults with OSA. Materials and methods Databases, including PubMed, Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and SAGE Journals. Hand searches and grey literature were also used. A piloted data collection form was used to extract the appropriate data. Results Twenty-three reports of 19 studies were included. Five had serious risk of bias while 18 had moderate risk of bias. Meta-analysis revealed a significant change in overbite and overjet. I-squared analysis showed a high level of statistical heterogeneity. A moderate correlation was found between wear time and amount of change. Conclusion Mandibular advancement devices will cause a small but statistically significant change in the dentition of long-term wearers. Skeletal changes are generally secondary to dental changes.

There has been a record surge of unaccompanied immigrant minors (UAMs) entering the United States, with 86% of those apprehended at the US-Mexico border originating from the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. A majority of immigrant children are separated from either one or both parents at various points during the migration process. Although average separations last 4 or more years, and may be deeply distressing, there is little research on family separations among Central American UAMs. Further, little is known about the developmental impact of separations from extended family networks, or about reunification. To address these empirical gaps, this study used community-participatory qualitative methods to deeply explore the lived experiences and emotional repercussions of family separation and reunification. The sample included 42 adolescents who had all recently migrated to the Western United States from Central America. Thematic analyses revealed that separation experiences are distressing, multifaceted, and have important developmental implications for Central American UAMs. Results illustrate the socioemotional toll that family separation and reunification can have on this vulnerable population, and highlight the need for culturally responsive, developmentally informed, and contextually appropriate care focused on family reunification in order to foster healthy psychosocial adjustment among UAMs.