The Infertility-Related Stress Scale: Validation of a Brazilian–Portuguese Version and Measurement Invariance Across Brazil and Italy

Infertility constitutes an essential source of stress in the individual and couple’s life. The Infertility-Related Stress Scale (IRSS) is of clinical interest for exploring infertility-related stress affecting the intrapersonal and interpersonal domains of infertile individuals’ lives. In the present study, the IRSS was translated into Brazilian–Portuguese, and its factor structure, reliability, and relations to sociodemographic and infertility-related characteristics and depression were examined. A sample of 553 Brazilian infertile individuals (54.2% female, mean aged 36 ± 6 years) completed the Brazilian–Portuguese IRSS (IRSS-BP), and a subsample of 222 participants also completed the BDI-II. A sample of 526 Italian infertile individuals (54.2% female, mean aged 38 ± 6 years) was used to test for the IRSS measurement invariance across Brazil and Italy. Results of exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) indicated that a bifactor solution best represented the structure underlying the IRSS-BP. Both the general and the two specific intrapersonal and interpersonal IRSS-BP factors showed satisfactory levels of composite reliability. The bifactor ESEM solution replicated well across countries. As evidence of relations to other variables, female gender, a longer duration of infertility, and higher depression were associated with higher scores in global and domain-specific infertility-related stress. The findings offer initial evidence of validity and reliability of the IRSS-BP, which could be used by fertility clinic staff to rapidly identify patients who need support to deal with the stressful impact of infertility in the intrapersonal and interpersonal life domains, as recommended by international guidelines for routine psychosocial care in infertility settings.

Teacher-reported emotional and behavioural problems and ethnic background associated with children’s psychosocial care use: a longitudinal population-based study

Approximately, 15% of children in Western countries suffer from emotional and behavioural problems. However, not all children receive the psychosocial care they need, especially children with a non-Western background experience an unmet need for care. This might be because parents of non-Western children report a lower need for care than parents of Western children, unrelated to the actual need. This study examined the association between teacher-reported problems and psychosocial care use, independent of mother-reported problems. Further, the role of ethnic background in this association was investigated. The study sample of 9-year-old children was retrieved from the Generation R Study (N = 3084), a prospective, population-based cohort of children born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Teacher- and mother-reported problems were measured via questionnaire when the children were 6/7 years old. Psychosocial care use was mother-reported at the research centre when children were 9 years old (8.1%). Hierarchical logistic regressions showed significant positive associations between teacher-reported total, externalising and internalising problems and later psychosocial care use. These associations were independent of mother-reported problems. Children with a non-Western background used less care, but ethnic background did not moderate the association between teacher-reported problems and care use. Our findings suggest that teachers might have an important role, next to parents, in the identification of problems and children’s access to care. This may be particularly important for non-Western children, as they use less psychosocial care than Western children, despite other research showing that they generally display higher levels of problems. Directions for future research and implications are discussed.

Assessment of stigma and prejudice in the organization of care networks for drug users

ABSTRACT Objective: To assess stigma and prejudice in the organization of the Psychosocial Care Network for drug users. Methods: this is a qualitative study, developed through Empowerment Assessment. The survey was conducted in a municipality in Rio Grande do Sul, with 42 network workers. For data collection, participant observation, semi-structured interviews and open forum were used. For data analysis, thematic analysis was used. Results: the network’s mission involved a proposal for care without prejudice and judgments for drug users. It was identified that the composition of the network with training in multidisciplinary residency and psychiatry facilitates achieving the mission, and among the difficulties, the challenges to overcome prejudice were analyzed. Strategies for continuing education, seminars, and user empowerment in the community are suggested. Final considerations: stigma and prejudice need to be problematized in the networks for the organization of more inclusive and rehabilitating psychosocial care.

Mental health assistance: identification of nursing diagnoses in a community mental health service

ABSTRACT Objective: to map and identify nursing diagnoses targeted at night care users in a Psychosocial Care Center according to NANDA-I Taxonomy. Method: this is a descriptive-exploratory study, of documentary research type of 319 records in medical records. It was held in a Psychosocial Care Center III in Goiás, from 2014-2018. Nursing diagnoses and records were extracted with non-standardized language. Results: 813 records of nursing diagnoses identified in 53 different titles, in 10 domains, were identified. The most frequent diagnosis was risk for self-extermination. The domain with the highest number of diagnostic records was activity/rest. There was a predominance of diagnoses focused on the problem. Final considerations: mapping contributes to the planning of evidence-based nursing interventions and to the strengthening of professional identity in mental health. It is evident the need for practices that go beyond the symptoms in a preventive perspective, with a view to comprehensiveness.

Religiosity and spirituality in mental health: nurses’ training, knowledge and practices

ABSTRACT Objective: to analyze nurses’ training, knowledge and practices in the religiosity/spirituality interface in the context of Psychosocial Care Centers. Methods: a descriptive, exploratory, qualitative study, carried out in a metropolitan region of Ceará. Four nurses were interviewed, and the data were examined using the content analysis technique. Results: four categories emerged from analysis: Deficit in teaching religious and spiritual practices in higher education in nursing; View of the concept of religiosity and spirituality; Religiousness and spirituality as an integral part of the person; Reception of religious and spiritual practices as an aid to treatment. Final considerations: a deficit in nursing undergraduate teaching was identified concerning religiosity and spirituality. However, the interviewed professionals understand the importance of religious and spiritual dimensions in the therapeutic process, even though they do not accurately differentiate the concepts.

Relationships of adolescents with suicidal behavior with social support networks

ABSTRACT Objective: To identify the relationships of adolescents with suicidal behavior established with social support networks. Method: Qualitative study addressing ten adolescents with suicidal behavior cared for by a psychosocial care center attending children and adolescents located in southern Brazil. Semi-structured interviews were held in July 2020 via WhatsApp during the COVID-19 pandemic, and data were analyzed according to Minayo’s thematic analysis. Results: Two categories emerged: Dynamics of the relationships established in the family support network and Relationships established with the remaining social support network members, which revealed a weak social support network established with friends and at the school context. Final considerations: This study enabled identifying how relationships are established in the social support networks and how these reflected on the adolescents’ development.

Continuing health education for qualification of professional practice in Psychosocial Care Centers

ABSTRACT Objective: to describe and analyze a strategy of continuing health education to manage the quality of professionals’ work in Psychosocial Care Centers. Method: this is a research-intervention carried out in Psychosocial Care Centers in the state of Goiás, Brazil, with the participation of 58 professionals. Data were collected in 2016 through seminars and workshops. Thematic content analysis was carried out. Results: professionals associated the Singular Therapeutic Project to the record of performed procedures and described the need to develop skills for correct completion and interpretation of procedures, use of a record software and computerization of processes. The qualification strategy used was considered to be effective in making improvements to the work carried out feasible. Final Considerations: the study presents a qualification strategy for community mental health service teams to guide the care model for territorial care centered on users.

Modelling Target Workforce Estimates For Community-Based Mental Health Services In Lebanon

Background: Mental health services in Lebanon are weakly integrated in the health system due to a huge political unrest, cultural and societal stigma, and more importantly, due to the inappropriate planning of human resources. A shift of the mental health services in Lebanon from hospital-based care into community-based care and efficient planning of human resources became a priority given the increasing burden of mental health disorders as a consequence of socio-political and economic crises: the bordering Syrian war, the massive influx of refugees, the huge inflation rate and above all the Beirut explosion. Methods: The WHO-ATLAS was conducted in 2019 as well as the WHO-AIMS in 2015 to map mental health services in Lebanon. Data from those two reports was plugged into the service needs calculator; an economic tool including epidemiology of eight priority mental health packages and target population, outpatient service use/needs and inpatient service use/needs. Total full-time equivalents (FTE) were calculated for psychiatrists, nurses and psychosocial care providers. All formulas were extracted from the WHO “Planning and Budgeting to deliver mental health services” module of the Mental Health Policy and Service Guidance Package. Results: For an effective community-based mental health system in Lebanon, there is additional need for 182 (+16%) psychiatrists, 762 (+68%) nurses and 184 (+16%) psychosocial care providers; a total increase of 1,128 mental health workforce. Conclusions: A proper workforce skill mix for an optimal utilization of the existing staff is recommended. New models will need to account for task shifting to attempt to close the gap between what is needed and what is available.