scholarly journals A deep learning approach for identifying cancer survivors living with post-traumatic stress disorder on Twitter

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (S4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Hafieza Ismail ◽  
Ninghao Liu ◽  
Mengnan Du ◽  
Zhe He ◽  
Xia Hu

Abstract Background Emotions after surviving cancer can be complicated. The survivors may have gained new strength to continue life, but some of them may begin to deal with complicated feelings and emotional stress due to trauma and fear of cancer recurrence. The widespread use of Twitter for socializing has been the alternative medium for data collection compared to traditional studies of mental health, which primarily depend on information taken from medical staff with their consent. These social media data, to a certain extent, reflect the users’ psychological state. However, Twitter also contains a mix of noisy and genuine tweets. The process of manually identifying genuine tweets is expensive and time-consuming. Methods We stream the data using cancer as a keyword to filter the tweets with cancer-free and use post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related keywords to reduce the time spent on the annotation task. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) learns the representations of the input to identify cancer survivors with PTSD. Results The results present that the proposed CNN can effectively identify cancer survivors with PTSD. The experiments on real-world datasets show that our model outperforms the baselines and correctly classifies the new tweets. Conclusions PTSD is one of the severe anxiety disorders that could affect individuals who are exposed to traumatic events, including cancer. Cancer survivors are at risk of short-term or long-term effects on physical and psycho-social well-being. Therefore, the evaluation and treatment of PTSD are essential parts of cancer survivorship care. It will act as an alarming system by detecting the PTSD presence based on users’ postings on Twitter.

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zainab Ifthikar ◽  
Saima Sajjad Fakih ◽  
Saumy Johnson ◽  
Johnson Alex

Abstract Background In recent times, COVID-19 has been recognized as a public health emergency and thus far, most papers published on it are focused only on the clinical characteristics of infected patients. This pandemic has also made phenomenal emotional impact among the young and the old. We aimed to find out the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological well-being of medical students in a University at Riyadh. Results There were 309 participants in the study. Out of them 44% did not have PTSD, 29% had score more than 37 which might contribute to immune suppression, in 18.4% PTSD was a clinical concern and 8.6% had probable PTSD. Female participants were the majority in the group and they also had higher chance of having consequences than the male counterparts (P < 0.001). Avoidance score between male and female gender was significantly different. Conclusion COVID-19 pandemic has not just affected the physiological functioning of the affected individuals but also has had a probable post-traumatic stress disorder among young college students. Screening for psychological well-being and the treatment for PTSD is imperative in college, school and general population.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisha Kader ◽  
Bushra Elhusein ◽  
Nirvana Swamy Kudlur Chandrappa ◽  
Abdulqadir J. Nashwan ◽  
Prem Chandra ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Intensive care unit (ICU) staff have faced unprecedented challenges during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which could significantly affect their mental health and well-being. The present study aimed to investigate perceived stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms reported by ICU staff working directly with COVID-19 patients. Methods The Perceived Stress Scale was used to assess perceived stress, the PTSD Diagnostic Scale for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition) was used to determine PTSD symptoms, and a sociodemographic questionnaire was used to record different sociodemographic variables. Results Altogether, 124 participants (57.2% of whom were men) were included in the analysis. The majority of participants perceived working in the ICU with COVID-19 patients as moderately to severely stressful. Moreover, 71.4% of doctors and 74.4% of nurses experienced moderate-to-severe perceived stress. The staff with previous ICU experience were less likely to have a probable diagnosis of PTSD than those without previous ICU experience. Conclusions Assessing perceived stress levels and PTSD among ICU staff may enhance our understanding of COVID-19-induced mental health challenges. Specific strategies to enhance ICU staff’s mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic should be employed and monitored regularly. Interventions aimed at alleviating sources of anxiety in a high-stress environment may reduce the likelihood of developing PTSD.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Sa’ad Saleh Alsheikh Ali

Background: The number of individuals displaced from their original countries due to civil wars, hunger, disasters, and international wars is increasing worldwide day by day. These refugees are more vulnerable to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Objective: The present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the intervention program in improving the well-being and reducing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among a sample of Syrian refugee women in Jordan who had been displaced due to civil wars in Syria. Methods: The study recruited 40 Syrian refugee females in Jordan who were psychologically challenged, with high PTSD symptoms (assessed by PCL) and a psychological well-being impairment (assessed by PWD). The culture of Jordanian society discriminates and affects the Syrian refugee women, rendering them vulnerable to PTSD. Quasi-experimental design was used, wherein the participants were randomly distributed in experimental and control groups (n=20/group). The control group members did not receive any services related to psychological support or psychiatric medications, while the experimental group underwent a counseling program. Results: The present study demonstrated that the intervention program improves the well-being and reduces PTSD among the Syrian refugee women who constituted the experimental group. The intervention program and the PTSD manifestation were not affected by age. The present study recommended that the program be applied to the refugees in Jordan to improve the well-being of the women in the residential areas. Conclusion: Furthermore, an intervention on the Jordanian cultural impact on the refugee camps was also essential if the condition for the female refugees worsened. Lastly, the effect of Jordanian culture on Syrian refugees should be investigated since the literature presented a negative impact.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene E. Jonker ◽  
Danielle A. M. Lako ◽  
Mariëlle D. Beijersbergen ◽  
Marit Sijbrandij ◽  
Albert M. van Hemert ◽  
...  

In this study, linear mixed-effects regression analyses were used to examine whether sociodemographic variables, abuse-related variables, and well-being variables were associated with symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in abused women residing in shelters. Results pointed out that symptoms of depression severity were positively associated with migration background and the experience of physical abuse and negatively associated with self-esteem and social support. PTSD symptoms were positively associated with the experience of sexual abuse and negatively associated with self-esteem. Within women’s shelters, staff could be sensitive to improving the social integration of women, especially those with a non-Dutch background, and strengthening the women’s social networks and their self-esteem.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4.9) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Zainudin Abu Bakar ◽  
Darma Kabiru Rabiu

Insurgency has long been rooted in the Nigerian society. It affected deeply in the daily activities of the country. Thousands of people including school children have been maimed, displaced, orphaned and killed in Borno and entire North Eastern Nigeria and some other part of North Western Nigeria especially in the state of Kano because of the insurgency. The Boko Haram movement for example have caused enormous chaos within the society especially the school children. The movement have targeted civilian populations irrespective of gender, tribal and religious inclination among people and, the merciless attack and bombings carried out by them including abduction and kidnapping of female students have caused destruction of the school facilities and the well-being of the society. A continuous exposure to such stress created by war resulted the development various difficulties such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among school children. A systematic review was used to critically analyzed the impact of the insurgency in the society based on several related studies. The effect of the insurgency on the society was then highlighted which tells the story of the educational difficulties. 


Author(s):  
Calyn Crow

This chapter will describe how SFBT has been used in the military. Many people in the military have experienced some type of trauma throughout their lifetime. However, the military culture itself has not historically embraced or taught the importance of mental health or emotional well-being and are taught not to cry. This chapter discusses how using SFBT is effective in a culture where clients are not always allowed to show emotion. Solution-focused questions allow clients to quickly explore what is important to them, what it is they want or need currently, and how they are going to move forward. The chapter stresses the importance of not fixing what is not broken and how the solution is not necessarily related to the problem.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 654-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pentti Andersson

ABSTRACTBackground: The aim of this study was to identify long-term effects of diagnostic criteria on the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-C) for a test group of Finnish evacuees from World War II and compare the outcome effect with a control group of children who lived in Finland during the war in 1939–1945.Methods: 152 participants were recruited by the local leader of the Finnish War Child Association in Sweden and Finland. The selected group answered questions on the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-C) and the EMBU (Swedish acronym for “Own Memories of Parental Rearing”).Results: Evidence suggests a link between childhood parental separation and termination of the internalized attachment hierarchy of origin in a detachment process among Finnish evacuees. Based on the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Total (PCL-C) diagnosis an extreme traumatization for 36.7% of the test group subjects was identified, including a hidden Holocaust trauma in the population of Finnish evacuees.Conclusions: The study met the criteria for satisfying global evidence value. Sixty-five years after the end of World War II and in line with other studies on war children, the data show high levels of different trauma exposures from the war with 10.6 higher risk (odds ratio) for the exposed group of Finnish evacuees. Despite some limitations, the data highlight the need for further investigation into different parts of the detachment process among seriously traumatized groups to reveal resilience and other dimensions of importance in professional mental health creation.


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