Tag: anxiety

Study shines light on the well-being challenges faced by women in healthcare
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A recent Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health study assesses factors influencing the well-being of women in the healthcare profession.

Study: The Well-Being of Women in Healthcare Professions: A Comprehensive Review. Image Credit: Ground Picture / Shutterstock.com

Background

Since 2000, the number of full-time healthcare workers has almost doubled. Women account for a significant proportion of this growth and remain integral to the successful provision of healthcare services. Therefore, it is imperative to understand what contributes to the well-being of women in the workplace.

Due to the wide range of different roles that women play in society, they can be subject to immense pressure to be successful both at home and in the workplace. This can lead to adverse consequences, such as occupational burnout, psychological distress, anxiety, depression, or even suicidal thoughts.

In the healthcare sector, these adverse effects can lead to loss of patient trust, lack of adherence to treatment protocols, and lower quality care. Thus, it is critical that female healthcare workers, in particular, receive appropriate support.

About the study

In the current study, a total of 71 studies published in 26 countries between 1979-2022 were reviewed. Adult female healthcare professionals between 18 and 74 years of age were enrolled in these studies and included mental healthcare providers, clinical social workers, nurses, and physicians.

Several well-being-related factors were investigated, including resilience, wellness, burnout, stress, and quality of life (QOL). For the current study, individuals who identified as women were included, irrespective of the sex assigned at birth.

Study findings

This extensive review examined different study designs related to the well-being of female professionals in the healthcare sector across different countries and social contexts. Previous research defined well-being as being disease-free or not having work dissatisfaction; however, this definition is inadequate, as well-being should also encompass promoting happiness, security, and comfort.

Several studies have reported a negative association between poor work-life balance and a sense of well-being. To this end, women have often been encouraged to prioritize the household’s and children’s needs rather than their professional development.

About 25% of the reviewed studies suggested that limited professional autonomy and poor working conditions made women experience burnout at a faster rate than their male colleagues. However, the burnout rate was lower when women worked in a supportive environment and had flexible schedules.

Moreover, 20% of the studies highlighted the importance of personal relationships, in which familial relationships, romance, and friendship positively influenced a sense of well-being among women employed in the healthcare sector. The impact of environmental influence and the individual’s lived experience were vital to well-being.

About 16% of the studies revealed that implicit gender bias was a key source of mental distress among female healthcare workers. This was manifested in various ways, including unequal pay, fewer opportunities to progress, and not addressing female colleagues by their professional titles.

Several studies discussed the positive association between intentional mindfulness, exercise, sleep, nutrition, and well-being. The findings from these studies highlight that lifestyle interventions could reduce stress levels, compassion fatigue, and burnout.

Opportunities to pursue mentoring and professional development had a positive impact in 11% of the reviewed articles. These activities foster a deeper connection with colleagues and lead to a greater sense of belonging, which subsequently provides fulfillment in professional opportunities and higher job satisfaction.

Conclusions

The current review explored the well-being of female professionals in the healthcare sector and further analyzed the correlation between well-being and work-related stressors. Several factors were found to lead to emotional turmoil and job dissatisfaction, which can have severe consequences for the affected individual and the quality of patient care.

The study findings should motivate future research evaluating different levels of gender-sensitive interventions. More prophylactic methods, such as educational workshops, mindfulness practices, and institutional policy, should be implemented to study the effects of more holistic well-being practices for women.

Furthermore, the definition of well-being could be made more inclusive by combining physical and mental health. Well-being should also incorporate a sense of meaning or purpose, life satisfaction, and the ability to manage stress.
Journal reference:

Karakcheyeva, V., Willis-Johnson, H., Corr, P. G., & Frame, L. A. (2024) The Well-Being of Women in Healthcare Professions: A Comprehensive Review. Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health 13. doi:10.1177/27536130241232929
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February 26, 2024
Mindfulness buffers against the dark side of digital work

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A new study has revealed that employees who are more mindful in the digital workplace are better protected against stress, anxiety and overload.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham’s Schools of Psychology and Medicine analysed survey data from 142 employees. The results have been published today in PLOS ONE.

PhD student Elizabeth Marsh from the School of Psychology led the mixed methods study and said: “As work is increasingly mediated by digital technology we wanted to find out the impact this is having on people’s health and whether there are ways to mitigate this. We found that being mindfully and confidently digital should be considered important elements of living a healthy digital working life in the 21^st century.”

The participants in the study were surveyed about their experiences of the dark side effects of the digital workplace which were identified as; stress, overload, anxiety, fear of missing out and addiction and how these affected their health.

The results showed that more digitally confident workers were less likely to experience digital workplace anxiety, while those with higher mindfulness were better protected against all of the dark side effects. Data from 14 interviews also indicated ways that digital mindfulness can help protect well-being.

Digital workplace technologies like e-mail, nstant messaging and mobile devices have been shown to contribute to perceptions of stress by employees and employees may experience stress when having to adapt to a constantly evolving digital workplace which can lead to burnout and poorer health.”

Dr Alexa Spence, Associate Professor of Psychology

Mindfulness is defined as a state of consciousness that involves paying attention in the present moment intentionally and non-judgementally. The study showed that employees who were more mindful were less exposed to adverse impacts of the dark side of the digital workplace.

Professor of Digital Technology for Mental Health, Elvira Perez Vallejos comments: “The research shows that organisations need to consider how to manage digital workplace hazards alongside other psychosocial and physical risks in the workplace. Helping employees foster mindful awareness when working digitally could really help overall well-being.”

The research was funded by ESRC-MGS (Economic and Social Research Council – Midland Graduate School).

Source:

Journal reference:

Marsh, E., et al. (2024) Mindfully and confidently digital: A mixed methods study on personal resources to mitigate the dark side of digital working. PLOS ONE. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0295631.

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February 24, 2024
Delta opioid receptor agonist reduces anxiety-like behavior in mice

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Anxiety-related disorders can have a profound impact on the mental health and quality of life of affected individuals. Understanding the neural circuits and molecular mechanisms that trigger anxiety can aid in the development of effective targeted pharmacological treatments. Delta opioid receptors (DOP), which localize in the regions of the brain associated with emotional regulation, play a key role in the development of anxiety. Several studies have demonstrated the therapeutic effects of DOP agonists (synthetic compounds which selectively bind to DOPs and mimic the effect of the natural binding compound) in a wide range of behavioral disorders. One such selective DOP agonist-;KNT-127-;has been shown to exert ‘anxiolytic’ or anxiety-reducing effects in animal models, with minimal side effects. However, its mechanism of action is not clearly understood, thereby limiting its widespread clinical application.

To bridge this gap, Professor Akiyoshi Saitoh, along with Ms. Ayako Kawaminami and team from the Tokyo University of Science, Japan, conducted a series of experiments and behavioral studies in mice. Explaining the rationale behind their work, Prof. Saitoh says, “There are currently no therapeutic drugs mediated by delta opioid receptors (DOPs). DOPs likely exert anti-depressant and anti-anxiety effects through a mechanism of action different from that of existing psychotropic drugs. DOP agonists may, therefore, be useful for treatment-resistant and intractable mental illnesses which do not respond to existing treatments.” Their study was published on 29 December 2024, in Neuropsychopharmacology Reports,

The neuronal network projecting from the ‘prelimbic cortex’ (PL) of the brain to the ‘basolateral nucleus of the amygdala’ (BLA) region, has been implicated in the development of depression and anxiety-like symptoms. The research team has previously shown that KNT-127 inhibits the release of glutamate (a key neurotransmitter) in the PL region. Based on this, they hypothesized that DOP activation by KNT-127 suppresses glutamatergic transmission and attenuates PL-BLA-mediated anxiety-like behavior. To test this hypothesis, they developed an ‘optogenetic’ mouse model wherein they implanted a light-responsive chip in the PL-BLA region of mice and activated the neural circuit using light stimulation. Further, they went on to assess the role of PL-BLA activation on innate and conditioned anxiety-like behavior.

They used the elevated-plus maze (EPM) test, which consists of two open arms and two closed arms on opposite sides of a central open field, to assess behavioral anxiety in the mice. Notably, mice with PL-BLA activation spent lesser time in the central region and open arms of the maze, compared to controls, which was consistent with innate anxiety-like behavior. Next, the researchers assessed conditioned fear response of the animals by exposing them to foot shocks and placing them in the same shock chamber the following day without re-exposing them to current. They recorded the freezing response of the animals which reflects fear. Notably, animals with PL-BLA activation and controls exhibited similar behavior, suggesting that distinct neural pathways control innate anxiety-like behavior and conditioned fear response.

Finally, they examined the effects or KNT-127 treatment on anxiety-like behavior of mice using the EPM test. Remarkably, animals treated with KNT-127 exhibited an increase in the percentage time spent in the open arms and central field of the maze, compared to controls. These findings suggest that KNT-27 reduces anxiety-like behavior induced by the specific activation of the PL-BLA pathway.

Overall, the study reveals the role of the PL-BLA neuronal axis in the regulation of innate anxiety, and its potential function in DOP-mediated anxiolytic effects. Further studies are needed to understand the precise underlying molecular and neuronal mechanisms, for the development of novel therapies targeting DOP in the PL-BLA pathway.

Highlighting the long-term clinical applications of their work, Prof. Saitoh remarks, “The brain neural circuits focused on in this study are conserved in humans, and research on human brain imaging has revealed that the PL-BLA region is overactive in patients with depression and anxiety disorders. We are optimistic that suppressing overactivity in this brain region using DOP-targeted therapies can exert significant anxiolytic effects in humans.”

Source:

Tokyo University of Science

Journal reference:

Saitoh, A., et al. (2018). The delta opioid receptor agonist KNT-127 in the prelimbic medial prefrontal cortex attenuates veratrine-induced anxiety-like behaviors in mice. Behavioural Brain Research. doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2017.08.041.

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February 22, 2024
Research reveals disparities in workplace experiences for minority ethnic NHS staff during the pandemic

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Minority ethnic NHS staff were more likely to face workplace harassment, discrimination, and unavailability of personal protective equipment (PPE) than their White British colleagues during the pandemic, reveals research published online in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

Urgent action is needed to redress ongoing race inequalities in the health service, insist the researchers, who call for the inclusion of diversity and inclusion training in professional development, and the expansion of the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard.

Staff from minority ethnic groups make up nearly a quarter of the NHS workforce in England-;half in London-;but continue to be underrepresented in leadership roles and are more likely to face disciplinary action, note the researchers.

And evidence suggests that pressurised working environments with high workload and staff shortages can worsen bullying and discrimination. The pandemic created extreme and unprecedented pressures for all NHS staff, they point out.

To explore this further, the researchers drew on the responses of 4622 NHS staff from 18 trusts to the TIDES Inequalities Survey. This is a partnership between the Tackling Inequalities and Discrimination Experiences in Health Services (TIDES) and NHS CHECK, which sought to capture the psychosocial impact of the pandemic on NHS staff.

They analysed the survey responses to estimate the prevalence of negative workplace experiences during the pandemic among minority ethnic groups and to find out whether these experiences were associated with mental and physical health issues.

Of the total, 3741 staff identified as White British; 392 as White Other; 136 as Black; 220 as Asian; and 133 as Mixed Race. The over 50s made up the highest proportion of staff in all racial groups, bar Asian and Mixed.

Most of the sample were women (75%), born in the UK (84%), worked in clinical roles (68%) and had a permanent employment contract (90%). Almost half of the staff identifying as Black worked in non-clinical roles compared with a third of those identifying as White British.

On the other hand, staff identifying as Asian were predominantly employed in clinical roles and had the highest proportion of doctors (20%). Staff identifying as Mixed/Other had the highest proportion of nurses (33%).

Nearly 1 in 4 (23%) staff indicated probable depression; nearly 1 in 5 (18%) indicated probable anxiety; and nearly 1 in 4 (23%) reported medium/severe somatic symptoms.

The difference in the likelihood of experiencing probable depression among those who faced bullying, harassment and discrimination varied by ethnicity.

Staff who identified as Mixed/Other had a higher prevalence of probable depression (36%), anxiety (28%), and somatic symptoms (33%) than all the other ethnic groups.

A third of all the respondents reported experiences of workplace bullying, harassment, and abuse, and 1 in 5 reported facing discrimination from other members of staff.

Staff identifying as Black and Mixed/Other were more than twice as likely to experience bullying, harassment, and abuse as their White British colleagues, and they were around 4 times as likely to face discrimination from other staff.

While Black staff were 4 times as likely to be risk assessed during the pandemic as White British staff, they were also twice as likely to report a lack of available PPE. Asian staff, however, were 52% less likely to report PPE unavailability compared with White British Staff.

Lack of available PPE was associated with an approximate doubling in the reporting of probable depression, probable anxiety, and moderate/severe somatic symptoms. Bullying, harassment, and abuse were associated with a tripling in each of these health outcomes.

Just over a third of respondents (35%;1123) said they were redeployed during the pandemic. Of these, Black staff were less likely to feel able to challenge their redeployment, while staff identifying as Mixed/Other were less likely to be forewarned about the plans.

Staff identifying as Asian were 3 times as likely as White British staff to feel they could challenge their redeployment decision. And regardless of whether they were redeployed, Black staff were less likely to understand their redeployment rights than their White British colleagues.

But among those who were redeployed, involvement in redeployment decisions–including feeling able to challenge them-;understanding their rights, and being given a heads up about the move were associated with lower odds of probable depression and moderate/severe somatic symptoms.

The researchers acknowledge the relatively low participation rate of staff from non-White ethnicities, but emphasise that their findings are in line with those of previous studies and staff surveys.

“Our study found alarmingly high exposure to negative workplace experiences related to harassment and discrimination among ethnically minoritised NHS staff during the pandemic.

“The short-term and long-term impacts of such experiences are likely to take a toll on the mental and physical health of employees, as well as their dependents and social networks, with implications for career progression, intention to remain at the NHS and salary,” they write.

“It is crucial to prioritise racial discrimination as a public health issue, not just an ethical imperative, and ensure that decision-makers from ethically minoritised groups are involved in processes that affect their health and wellbeing,” they insist.

“These approaches are urgently required to address racism and inequalities in the UK healthcare system, which have long been recognised as both ‘avoidable and unjust’,” they conclude.

Source:

Journal reference:

Rhead, R., et al. (2024). Ethnic inequalities among NHS staff in England: workplace experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2023-108976.

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February 21, 2024
Early puberty in first-born daughters linked to prenatal stress in their mothers

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A UCLA-led team of researchers has found a correlation between early signs of adrenal puberty in first-born daughters and their mothers’ having experienced high levels of prenatal stress. They did not find the same result in boys or daughters who were not first-born.

The 15-year longitudinal study’s findings were published in the February issue of Psychoneuroendocrinology.

The study was the first to identify earlier patterns of adrenal puberty as a result of prenatal stress. Adrenal puberty is marked by changes like the growth of body hair, pimples and aspects of cognitive maturation, but does not include breast development or the onset of menstruation for girls or testicular enlargement for boys.

The finding adds to research in the field of fetal programming, studies that explore the impact that stress and other factors affecting pregnant mothers can have on fetuses and children long after birth.

“This is a first-of-its-kind finding and is fascinating to look at through an evolutionary lens,” said UCLA anthropologist Molly Fox, who led the study with colleagues from UC Irvine, UC Merced, Chapman University and the University of Denver.

Fox explains that a first-born daughter’s maturation, but not early onset of menstruation, may enable her to help her mother rear her other children successfully. The daughter becomes mature enough to help take care of children while not yet able to produce her own children, who would require her attention.

The finding also provides insights into the so-called “eldest daughter syndrome,” the socio-cultural phenomenon discussed online that refers to the childcare and other domestic labor that first-born females often take on, consciously or unconsciously, to help with the traditional parental or adult responsibilities required to run a household. The online discussions focus on oldest daughters feeling an overwhelming sense of responsibility for their family’s well-being.

Researchers recruited participants for the study from two obstetric clinics in Southern California during routine first trimester prenatal care visits. The women were 30 years old on average, all 18 or older, and experiencing singleton pregnancies. For about half of them, this was their first pregnancy. All were English-speaking, 45% were white/non-Latina and 30% were Latina. All were nonsmoking and not using steroid medications, tobacco, alcohol or other recreational drugs during pregnancy. Of the children born to these mothers, 48% were female and 52% were male.

Women’s stress, depression and anxiety levels were measured at 15-, 19-, 25-, 31- and 37-weeks’ gestation to create a prenatal psychological distress composite score. They were also assessed at two to three months postpartum to assign a postnatal distress composite score. The depression assessment asked respondents to rate the truth of statements such as “I felt lonely.” An example of an anxiety question was how often they felt particular symptoms, such as “jittery.”

At ages 8–10, 11–12 and 13–16, children’s biomarkers of adrenal and gonadal puberty were separately measured, including body hair, skin changes, growth in height or growth spurts, breast development and the onset of menstruation (in females), voice changes and facial hair growth (in males). Hormone levels that are indicators of adrenal and gonadal puberty were measured through saliva samples at all assessment stages.

The study also measured childhood adversity to account for other factors known to correlate to early maturation or signs of puberty in children and adolescents. These included the death of a parent or parental separation before age 5, the absence of the father and low income-to-needs ratios experienced at ages 7–9.

This research adds to the body of knowledge in our field showing the significant and lifelong impacts to women and their offspring when it comes to prenatal emotional, environmental and other factors. This is important as we continue to come up with practical and policy solutions that contribute to greater access to healthcare and the general wellbeing of pregnant mothers.”

Molly Fox, UCLA anthropologist

Source:

University of California – Los Angeles

Journal reference:

Fox, M. M., et al. (2024). Mothers’ prenatal distress accelerates adrenal pubertal development in daughters. Psychoneuroendocrinology. doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106671.

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February 20, 2024
Unlocking the brain’s decision-making secrets for future insights

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found important clues to how people make choices involving obtaining information about the future. The scientists identified a set of mental rules that governs decision-making about rewards, including cognitive rewards such as satisfying curiosity, and they identified the part of the brain that regulates this type of decision-making.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have new insight on what goes on inside people’s heads as they make decisions to obtain information about the future. The scientists identified a set of mental rules that governs decision-making about physical rewards — for example, food or money — and cognitive rewards – like the joy felt when accessing sought information. And they identified the part of the brain that regulates this type of decision-making. The process occurs in the lateral habenula, an ancient brain structure shared by species as distantly related as people and fish.

The findings not only offer insight on the body’s most mysterious organ but have potential to help people struggling with tough choices, whether due to the inherent complexity of certain decisions — such as whether to take a genetic test that might return unwelcome information — or due to mental illnesses that affect the ability to make decisions, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety and depression.

The study is available in Nature Neuroscience.

Identifying the circuits involved with assigning value to cognitive rewards, like information about the future, is really important, because that kind of valuation is often what breaks down in mental disorders. If we can understand exactly what part of the decision-making process is malfunctioning in an individual, we may be able to target that aspect of the process precisely and treat some mental illnesses more effectively.”

Ilya Monosov, PhD, senior author, professor of neuroscience at Washington University

Making a choice between two options often requires weighing the values of and making trade-offs between multiple factors. Some of these factors are concrete and practical. But there are also intangible factors that can provide powerful motivation to choose one option over another, such as the desire to satisfy curiosity and gain information. Some information has practical value, of course, such as advance warning of an incoming hurricane. But experiments have shown that people and animals value obtaining information even when they cannot parlay it into something useful.

“Take, for example, a student who turns in a final exam and then wants to know the results immediately,” said co-first author Yang-Yang Feng, an MD/PhD student who designed and led the the study’s experiments with human participants. “Finding out your score today versus finding out in a week won’t change the results or gain you any kind of advantage. But some people want to know so badly that they will pay to find out early. That’s called noninstrumental information seeking, trying to obtain information for its own sake.”

Historically, the drive to obtain practical rewards, such as money or food, and the drive to obtain information have been studied as separate phenomena. This division is artificial and oversimplifies the choices people make in the real world, the researchers said.

Feng and co-first author Ethan Bromberg-Martin, PhD, a senior scientist in Monosov’s lab, designed experiments that required participants to make trade-offs between rewards and noninstrumental information, to come to a final decision. Study participants were given a choice between two options, each of which gave them a chance at obtaining a few cents. The amount of money they could win and the likelihood of winning it varied. Some of the options came with the promise to learn the outcome early, before actual money arrived. In separate experiments, monkeys were offered analogous choices, with juice as the reward instead of money.

“By analyzing the trade-offs individuals made, we were able to work out some of the rules that individuals use to decide how much they’re willing to pay for information,” Bromberg-Martin said. “These rules generalized between humans and animals, suggesting that this abstract value may be conserved through evolution.”

One of the key principles they uncovered is that individuals seek information largely to resolve uncertainty. The more uncertainty, the more they are willing to pay for information about it. Intuitively, this makes sense. You would probably be willing to pay more to find out the outcome of a $100 bet than a $1 bet, especially if you could get the information sooner rather than later. These and other principles form a logical framework that the brain relies on to make choices.

But sometimes the system malfunctions.

“Some people with OCD exhibit what’s known as checking behaviors, where they go back and check the same thing over and over,” Monosov said. “This is aberrant information-seeking behavior, and it is basically due to a misprocessing of uncertainty.”

As part of this study, the team discovered that decision-making algorithms are implemented through a neurological circuit that culminates in the lateral habenula, a tiny structure located deep in the brain. The lateral habenula is a major regulator of dopamine and has been linked to mental illnesses including depression, anxiety and OCD.

The team is working on using tasks requiring participants to make choices, similar to those in this study, to classify people with OCD into subtypes that correspond to how their brains process uncertainty. Doing so would be a step toward more targeted therapies.

“A person may be fine in some regards, but their uncertainty processing is off in one specific way,” Monosov said. “Rather than saying that someone has a broad mental disorder such as OCD, we could say that their uncertainty processing is broken in this specific way, and here’s how we can modulate it. It’s a step toward more personalized medicine for mental illnesses.”

Source:

Washington University School of Medicine

Journal reference:

Bromberg-Martin, E. S., et al. (2024). A neural mechanism for conserved value computations integrating information and rewards. Nature Neuroscience. doi.org/10.1038/s41593-023-01511-4.

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February 17, 2024
What are your concerns about the possibility of having children? Survey of parenthood intentions for 16–18-year-old students

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In a recent study published in Human Fertility, researchers surveyed 16- to 18-year-old undergraduates about their plans to become parents in England.

Study: Parenthood intentions of 16–18-year-olds in England: a survey of school students. Image Credit: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com

Background

Teenagers’ perspectives on having children are critical for improving reproductive and sex education. Due to deficiencies in reproductive health and sex education at school, they frequently underestimate their odds of conception and are unaware of age-related fertility consequences. Comprehensive reproductive health and sex education are critical for health and well-being since they reduce misconceptions and allow young individuals to make educated decisions throughout their reproductive lives.

In the United Kingdom (UK), the biology curriculum does not address vital reproductive health subjects, and knowing teenagers’ attitudes about reproduction is critical for improving the existing relationships and sex education (RSE) curriculum.

About the study

In the present study, researchers questioned secondary school students aged between 16 and 18 years about their opinions on having children.

Using the Department of Education’s database of all secondary schools in England, personal and professional relationships, and a tutor forum, the team contacted the schools and invited them to participate in the survey-based study. The 47-component online anonymous survey, which included open-ended and multiple-choice questions about demographic parameters, sex and reproduction knowledge and education, and attitudes about the potential of giving birth, was available from May 10, 2021, to July 18, 2022. The sample population consisted of 931 students.

The researchers developed questions after reviewing the RSE syllabus of England using past survey approaches. They used skip logic, guiding particular students to questions based on past responses. They conducted cognitive interviews and discussed with research professionals on the subject to determine the reliability of the questions and alternatives listed in the survey.

The team conducted one-on-one cognitive interviews with the targeted audience online, and five students (four men and one female) met the qualifying criteria. During the interview sessions, they used concurrent probing and think-aloud approaches, and all five participants piloted the study survey so that researchers could check the suitability of the survey structure, questions, and alternatives. The team modified the questions and answer choices depending on the input after each interview. They refined the questions by consulting with other reproductive health experts who had previously created comparable surveys.

The team reviewed qualitative replies multiple times to become acquainted with the content, found the initial codes, and organized them into pertinent topics. They thoroughly analyzed and named the themes. The primary researcher led the analysis, which included discussions regarding theme allocation. Some pupils provided brief remarks, but most submitted lengthy ones. They analyzed qualitative data thematically and used descriptive statistics and chi-squared tests to examine quantitative data.

Results

Among the participants, 64% wanted to be parents, and 49% planned to have two children. Students preferring not to be a parent cite the world’s unstable and unsettled state, parental anxiety, the belief that children are unnecessary, and unpleasant connections with gestation and delivery. A few female participants were concerned about the challenges and risks of pregnancy and childbirth, thinking that the procedure would permanently harm their bodies and have a negative influence on their psychological well-being afterward.

Many students (45%) were apprehensive about having children, citing fears about their capacity to have healthy children and the life their children could lead. The team identified the following six themes in their replies to the question on motherhood concerns: worries, self-doubt, health and well-being, significant investment, impediments to personal objectives, and non-inclusiveness for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ+) education.

Students questioned their abilities to be good parents, reflecting fear and self-doubt of being labeled as bad parents. They believed that becoming a parent would entail several financial and emotional commitments for which they were unprepared. Some students with hereditary medical issues were concerned about becoming parents since they did not want their offspring to inherit their conditions.

For several reasons, some students choose adoption over having their children. Some people stated anxiety about pregnancy and labor, and they wished to adopt it to prevent the mental and physical strains of it. Students from the LGBTQ+ category considered adoption a more feasible choice for having children than using expensive aided reproductive techniques. Students frequently dread having children by mistake because they lack awareness regarding conception rates and abortion methods. They are also concerned about their spouse leaving or filing for divorce after having children and the likelihood that their offspring would have impairments, genetic disorders, be unhealthy, or be LGBT.

Conclusion

Overall, the study findings revealed the parenting concerns of 16- to 18-year-old English school students, emphasizing the necessity for a specialized reproductive health and sex education program. Fears and uncertainties about motherhood impact their decision-making, with many female students expressing disinterest owing to pregnancy and delivery issues. Inadequate fertility education increases students’ unfavorable views regarding reproduction. The study recommends interdisciplinary training focusing on climate and biological interconnections to emphasize fertility rates and resources.

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February 15, 2024
Are robots easier to interact with than humans for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

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In a recent review published in Behavioral Science, researchers summarized the current evidence regarding whether people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) find it easier to interact with robot partners than human partners.

They concluded that interacting with robots may be easier because they can provide motivation, and their behavior is easier to predict than that of humans.

Study: People with Autism Spectrum Disorder Could Interact More Easily with a Robot than with a Human: Reasons and Limits. Image Credit: Irina Wilhauk/Shutterstock.com

Background

People with ASD can have difficulties interacting and communicating with others and often find repetitive or restricted patterns of activities, interests, and behaviors comforting. These challenges affect their daily life and make social interactions stressful.

Socially assistive robots, programmed to facilitate social engagement, can help people with ASD grow their social and cognitive abilities, allowing them to initiate social contact more easily.

Results from some studies indicate that people with ASD may prefer interacting with robots over humans.

This review summarized the benefits individuals with ASD get from interacting with robots, whether they prefer them over humans, the possible reasons for this, and the challenges faced while interacting with robots.

Improvements in social interaction, communication, and specific behaviors

Studies have shown that children with ASD show more social behaviors when interacting with robots than humans, including joint attention, eye contact, activity engagement, collaborative play skills, verbal communication, imitation, and touch.

After interventions with robotic tools, children displayed improved social interaction skills with human partners as well as robots.

Other interventions aimed either to facilitate the development of appropriate and relevant behaviors or to reduce anxiety and maladaptive behaviors.

Appropriate behaviors included learning how to take turns, making non-verbal gestures, recognizing emotions, and regulating physical contact and touch.

Children with ASD appeared more interested in the robot but were as likely to learn how to take turns or make gestures from a robot as from a human.

Autistic children who received a robot-based intervention were better at recognizing happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, and anger, as well as more complex emotions like shame.

Robot interventions also reduced anxiety and repetitive behaviors, but studies that compared their efficacy to that of humans found conflicting results.

Preference for interacting with robots over humans

Studies suggest that when people with ASD encounter a robot, they are more likely to be engaged in the task than they would when faced with a human.

Unlike people with typical development (TD), people with ASD do not show a preference for humans over artificial objects. Also, distinct from people with TD, autistic people appear more likely to follow robot movements than human ones.

One study found that autistic adolescents were more likely to confide in a robot about embarrassing experiences than in a human.

Autistic adults showed similar responses to human and synthetic voices compared to neurotypical people with a marked preference for human voices.

A study on people with ASD between the ages of 17 and 25 found that they showed a higher willingness to receive interview training from a robot compared to a human. Their willingness was also negatively correlated with how human they described the robot as.

Robots could be better motivators than people – or easier to predict and understand

Individuals with ASD may be less likely to orient themselves toward social information since they do not pay as much attention to social information, engage as much with social learning, and do not look at people as much.

People with ASD are less motivated by social rewards and are less likely to use greeting and farewell gestures than neurotypical people.

Thus, one hypothesis for why autistic people show more improvements when interacting with robots is that robots are more motivating than humans.

However, another suggests that since robots can be considered simplified social agents, they are less complex to engage with than humans and are, therefore, less intimidating.

To people with ASD, they may represent an intermediate stage of difficulty, which prepares them to interact more easily with other humans. Their behavior may also be easier to predict.

Conclusions

Overall, there is promising evidence of the benefits of robotic interventions for people with ASD.

The authors noted high inter-individual variability in how effective the use of robots may be, including between people of different genders, ages, and cultures or with different levels of cognitive functioning, language skills, and sensory preferences. This points to the lack of generalizability of results and the need for further study.

The studies included in the review used a variety of interventions and robot tools; many did not include a human control group to the group that received a robotic intervention.

Future studies should also explore how long the benefits of robots last after the intervention is concluded, though there are indications that the effect may persist in the long term. Using standardized measurement tools and sample selection may allow for stronger conclusions.

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February 14, 2024
Interpersonal distrust from childhood bullying linked to mental health problems in teens

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A new study, co-led by UCLA Health and the University of Glasgow, found that young teenagers who develop a strong distrust of other people as a result of childhood bullying are substantially more likely to have significant mental health problems as they enter adulthood compared to those who do not develop interpersonal trust issues.

The study, published in the journal Nature Mental Health on Feb. 13, is believed to be the first to examine the link between peer bullying, interpersonal distrust, and the subsequent development of mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, hyperactivity and anger.

Researchers used data from 10,000 children in the United Kingdom who were studied for nearly two decades as part of the Millennium Cohort Study. From these data, the researchers found that adolescents who were bullied at age 11 and in turn developed greater interpersonal distrust by age 14 were around 3.5 times more likely to experience clinically significant mental health problems at age 17 compared to those who developed less distrust.

The findings could help schools and other institutions to develop new evidence-based interventions to counter the negative mental health impacts of bullying, according to the study’s senior author Dr. George Slavich, who directs UCLA Health’s Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research.

There are few public health topics more important than youth mental health right now. In order to help teens reach their fullest potential, we need to invest in research that identifies risk factors for poor health and that translates this knowledge into prevention programs that can improve lifelong health and resilience.”

Dr. George Slavich, study’s senior author

The findings come amid growing public health concerns about the mental health of youth. Recent studies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 44.2% of sampled high school students in the U.S. reported being depressed for at least two weeks in 2021, with one in 10 students who were surveyed having reported attempted suicide that year.

In this new study, the researchers viewed these alarming trends from the perspective of Social Safety Theory, which hypothesizes that social threats, such as bullying, impact mental health partly by instilling the belief that other people cannot be trusted, or that the world is an unfriendly, dangerous or unpredictable place.

Prior research has identified associations between bullying and mental and behavioral health issues among youth, including its impact on substance abuse, depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. However, following youth over time, this study is the first to confirm the suspected pathway of how bullying leads to distrust and, in turn, mental health problems in late adolescence.

Slavich said when people develop clinically significant mental health problems during the teenage years, it can increase their risk of experiencing both mental and physical health issues across the entire lifespan if left unaddressed.

In addition to interpersonal distrust, the authors examined if diet, sleep or physical activity also linked peer bullying with subsequent mental health problems. However, only interpersonal distrust was found to relate bullying to greater risk of experiencing mental health problems at age 17.

“What these data suggest is that we really need school-based programs that help foster a sense of interpersonal trust at the level of the classroom and school,” Slavich said. “One way to do that would be to develop evidence-based programs that are especially focused on the transition to high school and college, and that frame school as an opportunity to develop close, long-lasting relationships.”

The study was co-authored by Dr. George Slavich, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA, and Dr. Dimitris Tsomokos, a researcher at the University of Glasgow.

Source:

University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences

Journal reference:

Tsomokos, D. I., & Slavich, G. M. (2024). Bullying fosters interpersonal distrust and degrades adolescent mental health as predicted by Social Safety Theory. Nature Mental Health. doi.org/10.1038/s44220-024-00203-7.

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February 13, 2024
UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry opens special-care dental clinic in South Texas

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The UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry has opened a special-care dental clinic, the first of its kind in an academic setting in South Texas that will serve people of all ages with intellectual, developmental, cognitive or physical disabilities.

With spacious, specially designed treatment rooms featuring adjustable sound and lighting and even a “Zen Den” multi-sensory room to help reduce anxiety, the Phil and Karen Hunke Special Care Clinic occupies approximately 4,300 square feet on the first floor of the school’s Center for Oral Health Care and Research, at 8210 Floyd Curl Drive. The clinic is named for San Antonio-area philanthropists who provided seed money for the project. Phil Hunke, DDS, is a retired pediatric dentist.

The state-of-the-art space includes seven dental treatment rooms and five rooms equipped with the capability to deliver conscious sedation, all to accommodate those with special needs and provide services for up to 40 patients per day. The clinic will serve the community and provide training for students.

Numerous barriers exist in the current oral health care delivery model for individuals with special needs. At the heart of the issue is a lack of workforce trained and willing in the provision of services for this population.”

Jennifer Farrell, DDS, DABSCSD, inaugural director of the clinic

In one study, only 10% of dentists responding to a survey reported treating individuals with special needs and only one in four students had hands-on experience with those patients while in dental school.

“Dental education institutions are the vital link in building a clinician base that will deliver services to this significantly underserved population,” said Peter M. Loomer, DDS, PhD, MBA, dean of the UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry.

Serving vital roles

The clinic serves three vital roles. In addition to seeing patients from throughout South Texas, the facility will provide academic and clinical training to students in special-care dentistry across several disciplines, including dental and dental hygiene, medical, physician assistant and nursing. The clinic will serve as a resource for community dentists and social service providers, not only as a referral source but also for dissemination of information and advances in the treatment of individuals with special needs.

The clinic builds on the region’s most comprehensive integrated dental practice, where patients receive care from experienced dentists, renowned specialists, advanced graduate residents or dental students overseen by faculty of the state’s top-ranked dental school.

In addition to the generous support provided by the namesake donors, a $2 million federal Health Resources and Services Administration grant over five years is funding personnel and operating costs, and provider education. Also, $2.3 million from the Oral Health Improvement Program (OHIP) of the Texas Department of State Health Services is supporting the goal of expanding oral care for those with special health care needs.

The roomy treatment areas allow multiple points of access based on the management needs of the patients, and with ample room for the patients and their families or caregivers, while being private. The Zen Den and a bubble wall offer sensory-regulating features.

Entrances, the reception area and corridors also are designed to allow easy access, and with hallways that include railing and wheelchair bumpers. Patients will have access to a wheelchair tilt if needed, though most patients will be able to receive treatment in their wheelchairs without a tilt.

Compehensive exams will determine what level of sedation is most appropriate for a patient, with five suites specially designed with the latest equipment to deliver full treatment along with conscious sedation. The clinic’s location inside the Center for Oral Health Care and Research gives access to additional treatment spaces that allow full sedation if necessary.

“We provide a full range of preventive, routine and comprehensive dental care for all ages and dental needs,” said Micaela Gibbs, DDS, MHA, clinical associate professor and chief dental officer of the UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry. “Customized care plans are created based on a patient’s unique set of circumstances and tolerance for treatments.”

What to expect

The first visit typically will include a comprehensive oral evaluation, X-rays, cleaning, fluoride application, tailored instructions for home oral hygiene care and nutritional guidance, and development of a tentative plan for ongoing care – and will take from one to two hours.

The clinic accepts Medicaid for qualified patients under the age of 21 and select dental insurance. Third-party financing options are available for patients requiring a payment plan.

As the clinic’s founding director, Farrell brings more than 30 years of experience providing care for patients with disabilities. Before joining here, she was director of the Special Patient Care Dental Program at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago for 13 years and treated patients with special needs through that program for more than 28 years.

In 2021, Farrell received the Lawrence J. Chasko Distinguished Service Award from the Special Care Dentistry Association.

Source:

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

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February 10, 2024