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Introduction: COVID-19 and related travel and social restrictions caused significant stress for university students in Australia and globally. Learning quickly moved online and many students (particularly international students) were separated from social and economic support. This study examined the impact of the pandemic from pre-pandemic (2019) to the COVID-19 Omicron wave (2022) on domestic and international students' mental health. Methods: Participants were 1540 students (72% females, 28% international) in four first-year cohorts (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022). We screened for mental health concerns (% positive) and symptom scores for depression, anxiety and somatic distress using the PsyCheck, and general wellbeing using the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale. Results: From pre-COVID (2019) to the first wave of COVID-19 (2020), the proportion of students screening positive for mental health problems rose in both domestic students (66–76%) and international students (46–67%). Depression symptoms and wellbeing were worse in 2020 than in 2019, 2021 and 2022. Anxiety symptoms increased from 2019 to 2020 and continued to rise in 2021 and 2022. Somatic symptoms did not show an effect of cohort. Contrary to expectations, domestic students reported higher distress and lower wellbeing than international students across cohorts. Conclusion: The pandemic was associated with a marked increase in psychological distress in first-year university students, not all of which settled with the easing of restrictions. Post-pandemic recovery in the Australian university sector must include university-wide access to mental health information and support for incoming students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression treatments are typically less effective for young people than for adults. However, treatments rarely target loneliness, which is a key risk factor in the onset, maintenance and development of depression.Aims: This study evaluated the efficacy of a novel loneliness intervention, Groups 4 Health (G4H), relative to the best-practice treatment of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) in reducing loneliness and depression over a 12-month period (Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry: ACTRN12618000440224).Method: The study was a phase 3 randomised non-inferiority trial comparing G4H with dose-controlled group CBT. Participants were 174 people aged 15-25 years experiencing loneliness and clinically significant symptoms of depression, who were not in receipt of adjunct treatment. Participants were recruited from mental health services in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Randomisation was conducted using computer software. Follow-up assessments and statistical analyses were masked to allocation. Both interventions consisted of five 75 min group-based psychotherapy sessions. The primary outcomes were depression and loneliness, with a non-inferiority margin of 2.20 for depression.Results: The trial enrolled 174 participants between 24 April 2018 and 25 May 2019, with 84 in the G4H condition and 90 in the CBT condition. All randomised participants were included in the intention-to-treat analyses (n = 174). The pre-post effect sizes for depression were dG4H = -0.71 and dCBT = -0.91. For loneliness, they were dG4H = -1.07 and dCBT = -0.89. At 12-month follow-up, the absolute difference between groups on depression was 1.176 (95% CI -1.94 to 4.29) and on loneliness it was -0.679 (95% CI -1.43 to 0.07). No adverse effects were observed.Conclusions: G4H was non-inferior to CBT for depression and showed a slight advantage over CBT for loneliness that emerged after treatment completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. Even though emerging evidence suggests that participation in arts-based group programs are helpful in supporting mental health, the field lacks an established theorical framework. This study explored the extent to which participants' experiences of singing or creative writing groups aligned with theorising proposed by the social cure approach.. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 choir members, and 23 creative writing group members with chronic mental health conditions at two time points. Transcripts of the interviews were examined by four coders using thematic analysis.. Consistent with social cure theorising, participation in the choir and creative writing group facilitated meeting participants' needs for belonging, support, self-efficacy, purpose, and positive emotions.. This study demonstrated the psychosocial mechanisms by which participation in arts-based groups can enhance mental health. We conclude that engagement with the social cure framework may be useful to structure practice in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People experiencing chronic mental health conditions (CMHC) often report feeling socially marginalised. There is emerging evidence that social and mental wellbeing can be enhanced through participation in arts‐based programmes. In this paper, a social identity theoretical approach was applied to explore how participation in the arts may improve mental health in a longitudinal study. A one‐year prospective study of 34 choir members and 25 creative writing group members (Mage = 46, 51% female) with CMHC, involved three assessments of participants' group identification and mental wellbeing, measured by the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. The programmes were community‐based and facilitated by arts professionals. Multilevel modelling analyses demonstrated that participants' mental wellbeing significantly improved over time. Greater identification with their arts‐based group (ABG) was significantly related to an increased rate of improvement in mental wellbeing. The trajectory of improvement in mental wellbeing did not differ between participants partaking in the choir or creative writing group. This study demonstrates that participation in ABGs can be effective in improving mental wellbeing in adults with chronic mental health problems, particularly for those who strongly identify with the group. This study supports ABG participation as an accessible component of mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study aimed to offer a comprehensive test of the model outlined in objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). A sample of 116 Australian female undergraduate students completed measures of self-objectification, self-surveillance, body shame, appearance anxiety, internal body awareness, flow, disordered eating, depressed mood, and sexual functioning. Simple correlations showed that most variables were related as predicted. Structural equation modeling showed an acceptable level of fit of the data to the theoretical model. Nevertheless, predictive ability was considerably greater for disordered eating than for depressed mood, which in turn was greater than for sexual functioning. Appearance anxiety and body shame emerged as the major mediating variables. The findings provide strong evidence in support of objectification theory. In particular, we concluded that self-objectification plays an important role in the development of mental health issues in young women. Accordingly, intervention strategies that target either societal objectification practices themselves, or educate young women to resist the pressures inherent in these practices that lead to self-objectification, have potentially far-reaching benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]