International Journal of Mental Health Promotion

Volunteering and Depression among Older Adults

2022-08-12T15:14:41+08:00

Introduction: Older adults are prone to high levels of depression due to their deteriorating physical functions and shrinking social networks after retirement. Volunteering as an important social activity is essential for alleviating depression by building social network. This paper aims to examine the effect of volunteering on depression among older adults by using China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS 2018) data. Methods: This study uses descriptive analysis and chi-square tests to show differences in demographic factors of older adults' volunteerism participation, followed by bivariate correlation analysis to examine the correlation between the vital variables. Afterward, stratified linear regression analysis is used to research the significant level and impact between volunteering and degree of expertise, frequency, and variety of participation. Results: 8,459 older adults are included in study. The research reveals that older adults who are younger, live in urban areas, are married, or have a higher degree of education tend to have fewer depressive symptoms. Meanwhile, participation in volunteering (OR=0.90, 95% CI:0.8, 1.1, p<0.001), as well as that demands specialized skills (OR=0.51, 95% CI: 0.30, 0.2, p<0.001), more frequency of participation (OR=1.85, 95% CI:1.53, 2.18, p<0.001), and a wider variety of activities (OR=0.21, 95% CI:0.12, 0.29, p<0.001), all have a positive influence on depression levels. Discussion/Conclusion: Older adults who participate in voluntary services have lower depression symptoms and should be encouraged to use their professional skills and increase participation frequency and variety in this process. This article suggests that governments should help older adults participate in voluntary services by time banking which will further strengthen social ties, rebuild social networks and alleviate depression symptoms of older adults.

Topic Models to Analyze Disaster-Related Newspaper Articles

2022-08-31T16:15:32+08:00

This study aimed to explore the sentiments of citizens’ emotional responses and issues of interest in the COVID-19 pandemic context. The dataset comprised 65,313 tweets with the location marked as New York State. Data analysis used the R Studio program. The emotional responses in tweets were analyzed using the Bing dictionary and the NRC (National Research Council Canada) dictionary. The tweets’ central issue was identified by Text Network Analysis. Using the NRC dictionary, eight emotional classifications were devised as follows: “trust,” “fear,” “anticipation,” “sadness,” “anger,” “joy,” “surprise,” and “disgust.” From these results, it can be seen that citizens showed negative and trust emotional reactions in the early days of the pandemic. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the citizens showed a strong interest in overcoming and coping with other people such as social solidarity. The citizen is concerned about the confirmation of COVID-19, and death. Efforts should be made to ensure citizens' psychological stability by promptly informing them of the status of infectious disease management and the route of infection.

Can Social Support be Protective Against Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents from 24 Low- and Middle-Income Countries?

2022-04-19T08:43:59+08:00

Background: Adolescents are highly vulnerable to depressive symptoms worldwide partially because of limited social supports. However, it still remains largely unknown regarding the associations between social support(s) and depressive symptoms among adolescents living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The aim of this study aimed to explore the associations between different types of social support and depressive symptoms in adolescents from LMICs.

Methods: Data were retrieved from the Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS) in which 92,551 adolescents (50.6% females)) were included with mean of 15.6 years. Depressive symptoms in the past one month as the dependent variable were measured in combination with social support (including peer support, parental supervision, parental connectedness and parental bonding). Multivariable logistic regression and meta-analysis of country-wise estimates were performed to investigate the associations between social support and depressive symptoms, and the heterogeneity of the associations across the countries, respectively.

Results: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 30.9% of adolescents from LMICs. Peer support and parental connectedness were two major factors that were significantly associated with depression symptoms in adolescents. However, the associations of peer support and parental connectedness with depressive symptoms were significant in males and females, respectively. The country-wise analysis indicated that varied inconsistency (small to large) across the associations of peer support and parental connectedness with depressive symptoms in adolescents.

Conclusion: Results in this study provides multi-national evidence of the protective roles of social support against depressive symptoms among adolescents. However, the association between social support and depression symptoms may be moderated by sex and types of social support. Although we found that social support may be an important protective factor against depressive symptoms in adolescents from LMICs, specifically designed interventions should be implemented based on sex difference and country difference.

The Use of Art Therapy in Alleviating Mental Health Symptoms in Refugees: A Literature Review

2022-07-22T05:42:05+08:00

ABSTRACT

There are over thirty million refugees globally with severe experiences of trauma. Art therapy intervention allows a non-verbal expression and could alleviate mental health symptomatology among refugees. The present review’s aim was to examine the effects of visual arts on alleviating psychological conditions of refugees. However, due to paucity of studies which solely used visual arts, we included studies which used visual arts alongside other modalities as part of expressive arts therapy intervention. The present review synthesizes studies that examined the effect of art therapy on mental health issues of refugees from January 2000 to March 2021. Seven studies (child and adolescent sample, N = 5 and adult sample, N = 2) with a total of 298 refugee participants (n = 298) met our inclusion criteria. The participants were from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), South East Asia, and Europe. We found three prevalent mental health disorders, namely Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, and Major Depression Disorder. Four themes emerged from this review: working with traumatic experience/loss, rebuilding social connection and trust, nonverbal communication and self-expression of loss and trauma, and retelling stories. Art therapy interventions could be used as a starting point in the healing process of traumatised refugees to encourage verbal articulation of the feelings and reduction of mental health symptoms. Despite these promising findings, due to a dearth of robust methodologies, further research is required to assess the long-term effectiveness of art therapy.

Comparison of Self-strength, Seeking help and happiness between Pakistani and Chinese Adolescents: A posItive psychology inquiry

2022-07-25T09:14:26+08:00

Adolescents' emotions and preferences are influenced by their childhood experiences. In today's world, there is a pervasive eagerness for happiness. Happiness has been linked to feelings of self-strength, seeking help, and psychological health. The current quantitative research was designed with a positive psychological perspective to compare Pakistani and Chines adolescents' self-strength, seeking help, and happiness. The research design of the study was causal-comparative. The study population consisted of 400 Pakistani and 409 Chinese adolescents studying in the elementary grades of both countries. The study sample was selected by using a simple random sampling technique. Three different scales were developed to collect study data. Due to the post-COVID situation, the researcher collected the data personally. Independent sample t-test and simple linear regression were used to test study hypotheses. The study concluded that Pakistani adolescents have significantly higher self-strength, seeking help and happiness than their counterparts. It was also revealed that adolescents’ self-strength and seeking help significant affect their happiness. The study suggested investigating the factors contributing to the improved self-strength, seeking help, and happiness of Pakistani adolescents. The study also suggested measuring for transforming the current level of self-strength, seeking help and happiness among adults to make more peaceful societies.