Poster Session
Asynchronous - Online Only
Featured Helium Oxide Smart/Intelligent Oral Inhalers: A Short-term Substitute for Ventilators to Combat COVID-19 View Digital Media
Poster Session Zulfiqar Aslam
Deaths due to shortage of ventilators and lack of the hospitals’ capacity to deal with rapidly increasing number of Covid19 patients had increased in the initial stages of the pandemic, therefore the research focuses on how to support the paramedics combat Covid19 pandemic, The solution is to develop a method which could provide substitute to the ventilators and relief in hospitals’ capacity to deal with huge number of patients. Heliox is a mixture of helium and oxygen (HeO2), and is an extremely safe and rapid acting therapeutic agent that provides relief in breathing, tightness in the chest, blocked nose, cough, wheezing, fever, and chills. Heliox has proved extremely beneficial in patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiolitis, upper and lower airways obstruction and also diffusion of gases such as CO2 in the critical care. Smart Oral Inhalers with a mixture of Heliox (HeO2), Helium Oxide can be prescribed to the patients with severe breathing problems caused by Covid19, until the availability of the ventilators in the critical care units. These Inhalers can be refilled with the Heliox mixture as required. Furthermore smart inhalers can be remotely connected to an IoT (Internet of Things) cloud medical emergency platforms with M2M (Machine-to-Machine) integration and provide real time data about the patient’s respiratory conditions to the medical centers in order solve the hospital’s capacity issues and arrange ventilators.
Public Perception of Social Workers as a Source for Providing Help during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Seeking Professional Help View Digital Media
Poster Session Maya Kagan
Research conducted during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic has reported that the many challenges stemming from the disrupted routine, economic decline, and social isolation, are a significant threat to people’s physical and mental health and their personal and social functioning. For a considerable part of these challenges it is possible to receive assistance from social workers (SWs). The current study examines the contribution of select demographic and psychosocial variables, as well as prior experience with SWs, to explaining the likelihood of seeking their help by the general public in Israel during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online questionnaire was administered to a sample of 582 respondents older than 20. The findings show that the respondents reported a fairly low likelihood of seeking help from SWs. Women, those not in a significant relationship, people who had prior experience with SWs, and those reporting higher levels of loneliness, had a higher likelihood of seeking help from SWs. At the same time, no association was found between age, employment status, depression, and anxiety, and the likelihood of seeking help from SWs. When dealing with the mental, health, and social consequences of the COVID-19 crisis, it is important to identify groups with a lower likelihood of seeking help from SWs and to actively offer them help. Furthermore, it is important to develop a policy aimed at promoting knowledge of SW roles and reducing barriers to seeking SW help, while attending to the unique needs of diverse population groups.
Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Integrative Perspective View Digital Media
Poster Session Ester Zychlinski, Michal Mahat Shamir, Maya Kagan
Steaming from socio-ecological psychology and from the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, the present study proposed a holistic configural perspective on the association between psychological distress with a constellation of factors, during COVID-19 outbreak in Israel. Using an online survey, 991 adult participants were recruited, and filled out Psychological distress scale, as well as Locus of Control, Resilience, Self-reported loneliness, Perceived Social Support and Citizen trust in government organizations questionnaires. In addition, respondents' demographic characteristics were examined. Women, non-religious people, and unemployed reported higher levels of psychological distress. No association was detected between respondents age and their psychological distress. Internal locus of control, resilience, social support, and trust in government organizations were negatively associated with psychological distress. Self-reported loneliness positively predicted the level of respondents’ psychological distress. An overall view of the research findings indicates that individuals with greater (fewer) resources are less (more) likely to suffer from psychological distress during COVID-19 outbreak. It is not a single resource or a specific stress which causes psychological distress, rather it is the interplay between the wider social habitats and the human mind, behavior and resources which causes psychological distress.
The Contribution of Couples' Psychological Resources to Marital Well-being View Digital Media
Poster Session Hasida Ben-Zur, Keren Michael
This study assesses the extent to which couples' psychological resources contributed to marital support, which, in turn, contributed to marital satisfaction. One hundred and fifty-one heterosexual couples (wives' mean age=38.21 [SD=9.63, range=22–63]; husbands' mean age=41.26 [SD=10.14, range=27–65]) completed questionnaires assessing psychological resources (dispositional optimism and sense of mastery), marital support, marital satisfaction, social desirability, and demographic variables. Structural Equation Modelling was used to test the data. The psychological resources of both wives and husbands contributed positively to their own perceptions of marital support, and marital support mediated the effects of these resources on their own and on their spouse's marital satisfaction. The results highlight the important contribution of the individual's psychological resources to marital well-being.
Adult Safeguarding Practices in National Health Service Mental Health Trusts: Challenges for Leadership and Service Provision View Digital Media
Poster Session Tina Hamilton, Eleanor Bradley, Robert Dempsey
The abuse and neglect of adults at risk is increasingly recognised as a social problem in the U.K. Policy development for the protection of at risk adults has seen substantial growth since the publication of the No Secrets (2000) guidance. Despite cumulative evidence that National Health Service (NHS) mental health services have been slow to engage with the national adult safeguarding agenda, there is a paucity of research in this area. This poster describes a Grounded Theory study designed to explore the use and implementation of adult safeguarding practices and procedures in three NHS mental health trusts. It specifically presents the findings of sixteen interviews with strategic leaders for adult safeguarding and operational personnel. It will discuss the conceptual components that are central to the implementation of effective adult safeguarding procedures in mental health. It further highlights barriers to practice and demonstrate the need for multi-dimensional approaches within service contexts to ensure that factors inevitably affecting mental health service users are anticipated. Such factors include: the perpetuation of social inequalities and power differentials within healthcare settings, the calamitous relationship between the symptoms of abuse and mental illness, and the internalised collusive culture historical to mental health settings.
Pandemic-Related Parental Unemployment Contributed to Youth Anxiety, but not Depression View Digital Media
Poster Session Charlotte Utschig, Emily Mintz, Anna Van Meter
The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to increasing prevalence and severity of mental health (MH) symptoms among youth. Although job-related stress influenced deteriorating adult MH, less is known about how this impacted youth. We hypothesized that parental unemployment would negatively impact adolescent MH, but that adolescents who endorsed high resilience, the ability to positively adapt to difficult situations, would be less susceptible to the consequences. Adolescents were recruited through social media in March/April 2020, and completed self-reports about family, internalizing symptoms (GAD-7, PHQ-9) and resilience. Bimonthly follow-ups, through August 2021, assessed family circumstances and symptoms. Multi-level models, including sex/age, measured the influence of parental unemployment and resilience on MH. Participants (N=329) were 16.5 years old at baseline; 88% female. Approximately 40% participated in each follow-up. PHQ-9 (11.4-to-7.6) and GAD-7 (9.2-to-6.9) scores fell across follow-ups. A third (n=104) of participants experienced parental unemployment at baseline, falling to 11 by the final follow-up. Age (B=-0.69, p=0.004), resilience (B=-0.21, p<0.0001) predicted PHQ trajectory. Parental unemployment (B=0.73, p=0.040), resilience (B=-0.14, p<0.0001), male sex (B=2.58, p=0.011) predicted GAD trajectory. Parental unemployment was associated with anxiety, but not depression. Parent-to-child transmission of anxiety is well-documented; the impact of unemployment on youth may be mediated by parental anxiety/stress. Higher risk for anxiety among males was unexpected; gender differences in familial expectations (e.g., to contribute financially) may play a role. As expected, resilient adolescents were less susceptible to poor MH. Programs to build resilience could help protect vulnerable youth from the consequences of negative life events.
Featured Evaluation of the Psychoactive Substance Intake Pattern amongst Spanish University Students: Psychoactive Substance Use in Spanish University Students View Digital Media
Poster Session Elena González Burgos, Dolores Serrano Lopez, Teresa Pérez, Isabel Ureña Vacas, Melina Peressini álvarez, Yolanda Cabellos, Maria Carmen Pardo
The aim of this work is to know which is the pattern of consumption of psychoactive substances, that include psychopharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse, among university students from the University Complutense of Madrid (UCM) in Spain. An anonymous self-completed Google forms survey with demographic information and data on the use of psychoactive drugs and drugs of abuse was sent by institutional mail. The survey was answered by a total of 6,802 students, mainly women, aged between 18 and 75 years. The students belonged mainly to Bachelor’s degree (79%) followed by a Master’s degree (13.6%) and, finally, a Doctorate (7.4%) of a total of 26 faculties of the UCM. The study reveals that among the psychoactive drugs most frequently used by the respondents were valerian (33.4%), melatonin (20.2%), lorazepam (14%), diazepam (15.4%) and bromazepam (9.1%), being the use of these psychoactive drugs mainly sporadic in the last six months. The percentage of students who consumed psychotropic drugs such as diazepam, bromazepam, alprazolam and lorazepam without a prescription stands out worryingly. Regarding drug use, cannabis (43.6%) was the most preferable intake drug followed by ecstasy/MDMA (10.8%), cocaine (6.5%), amphetamines/speed (6.5%) and magic mushrooms (6.5%) and volatile inhalants (5.9%), with mainly sporadic use in the last 6 months. From the results gathered in this study, university policies should be implemented highlighting the rational use of medicines, based on the exacerbated consumption of benzodiazepines without a prescription. The authors are thankful for the financial support from the Student Observatory – UCM (project 25).
A Systematic Literature Review of Randomized Controlled Trials for Behavioral Interventions on Alcohol and Cannabis Use View Digital Media
Poster Session Maria Redondo
Young people are considered at risk for heavy cannabis and alcohol use. There is a wide range of behavioral interventions that have shown some level of effectiveness on cannabis and alcohol use rates, but their spread is not often supported by empirical evidence. This study aims to systematically gather and analyze narratively published RCTs assessing behavioral interventions for reduction of cannabis and alcohol consumption in young adults. We searched in MEDLINE, Embase, APA PSYCNET, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for RCTs published in English that examined the effectiveness of behavioral interventions on cannabis and alcohol consumption. The reporting quality of included studies was assessed through the revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2) tool. We screened 207 abstracts and identified 11 randomized controlled trials that meet our inclusion criteria. Nine studies included motivational interview as primary theoretical approach and four brief motivational interview combined with behavioral economics. Eight focused on cannabis use reduction. Short length and not in person delivery formats were frequently reported. In conclusion, interventions that reported higher retention rates and statistically significant results were delivered online and focused mostly on cannabis use reduction. Regarding effectiveness, only the combination of motivational interview and behavioral economics for cannabis and alcohol use reduction reported significant results after follow-up with a high retention rate, though evidence of high risk of bias reduces confidence. Besides, behavioral interventions embedded into public policies at institutional, local, or national levels could result in positive outcomes as well as long-term effectiveness.
