Counselling and psychotherapy post‐COVID‐19

We consider how the prolonged, complex and uncertain aftermath of the COVID‐19 crisis will present challenges and opportunities for counselling and psychotherapy. Increased mental strain on populations, individuals and professionals is likely to be compounded by further constraints in therapeutic resources. Nevertheless, emerging needs and priorities will offer ground for systems thinking in linking the application of a range of therapeutic frameworks, theories to address global challenges, integration of counselling and psychotherapy into new sectors, service models for the most vulnerable, use of digital approaches, support mechanisms for professionals and interdisciplinary research.     

Pox Parties for Grannies? Chickenpox,Exogenous Boosting,and Harmful Injustices

Abstract

Some societies tolerate or encourage high levels of chickenpox infection among children to reduce rates of shingles among older adults. This tradeoff is unethical. The varicella zoster virus (VZV) causes both chickenpox and shingles. After people recover from chickenpox, VZV remains in their nerve cells. If their immune systems become unable to suppress the virus, they develop shingles. According to the Exogenous Boosting Hypothesis (EBH), a person’s ability to keep VZV suppressed can be ‘boosted’ through exposure to active chickenpox infections. We argue that even if this hypothesis were true, immunization policies that discourage routine childhood varicella vaccination in order to prevent shingles for other people are unethical. Such policies harm children and treat them as mere means for the benefit of others, and are inconsistent with how parents should treat their children and physicians should treat their patients. These policies also seem incompatible with institutional transparency.     

Ethically Allocating COVID-19 Drugs Via Pre-approval Access and Emergency Use Authorization

Abstract

Allocating access to unapproved COVID-19 drugs available via Pre-Approval Access pathways or Emergency Use Authorization raises unique challenges at the intersection of clinical care and research. In conditions of scarcity, prioritization approaches should minimize harm, maximize benefit, and promote fairness. To promote continued data collection, patients seeking access to unproven COVID-19 drugs should receive lower priority for allocation when they decline to participate in clinical trials, either of the requested drug or other investigational products, offering a comparable balance of risks and benefits; special attention should be paid to concerns of voluntariness and distrust. In addition, institutional treatment protocols that can contribute more robust real world data should be preferred to single patient requests for access, with priority for inclusion based on traditional clinical allocation criteria relying on available evidence. Fairness demands distribution of these protocols across a diverse range of sites, particularly those serving marginalized populations, among other protections.     

心理健康素养：内涵、测量与新概念框架

本文概述了国内外心理健康素养概念的研究及其测量的演进。在此基础上尝试提出国民心理健康素养的新概念框架。新概念将心理健康素养定义为个体在促进自身及他人心理健康,应对自身及他人心理疾病方面所养成的知识、态度和行为习惯。新概念框架包含“心理疾病应对——心理健康促进”和“自我——他人”两个维度;在内容上包含知识、态度和行为习惯三个方面。文章还探讨了未来的研究方向。     

Mental Health Literacy and Peer-to-Peer Counseling Referrals Among Community College Students

Mental health literacy (MHL) has utility for promoting peer-to-peer referrals to mental health support services among university students. However, there is a gap in the extant literature about the potential usefulness of MHL for supporting the mental health of community college students, a population facing a number of mental health conditions. The authors examined the construct validity and the utility of 3 dimensions of MHL as predictors of peer-to-peer referrals to the counseling center among community college students. Results of confirmatory factor analyses supported the dimensionality of the instrumentation and a hierarchical logistic regression analysis revealed that MHL was a significant positive predictor of peer-to-peer referrals to the counseling center. Implications for counseling practice and future research are discussed.     

When “decoy effect” meets gender bias: The role of choice set composition in hiring decisions

A large body of research has found evidence that hiring decisions are frequently subject to strong gender bias and has explored factors that help to predict and prevent such a bias from occurring. In this paper, we explore a novel factor that has received only little attention: the composition of the choice set. Drawing on prior research on the attraction effect of decoys in consumer choice and personnel decisions, we posit that when decision makers need to decide whether to hire a male or a female applicant for a stereotypically male position, the presence of a third applicant whose profile is asymmetrically dominated by one of the two applicants can in many circumstances strongly increase the odds that the male applicant will be selected, but will not be beneficial for the female applicant. We test our hypotheses in five experimental studies with different designs, experimental settings, and participant pools—including managers with professional experience in hiring decisions. Our results provide robust evidence demonstrating the strong effects of choice set composition on the emergence of gender bias. In addition, we found that the presence of asymmetrically dominated applicants makes decision makers more confident in their biased decisions and more likely to implement them immediately without searching for further information. Finally, our results also provide some initial evidence that our results for stereotypically male positions will be reversed when hiring decisions are made for stereotypically female positions where the presence of decoys instead gives an advantage to female over male applicants.     

Decision-making styles and mental health—A person-oriented approach through clustering

Previous research examining the associations between decision-making styles and mental health has neglected to look at the configurations of styles. The study identifies mutually exclusive groups of people according to their combination of the five decision-making styles and examines the differences between them in mental health-related variables in two studies. In Study 1, decision-making styles, mental health indicators (well-being, depression, stress) and socio-psychological protective factors (resilience, optimism, social support) were examined in university students in two rounds 1 year apart. A cluster analysis revealed three distinct decision profiles—independent/nonintuitive, avoidant/spontaneous and rational/nonavoidant. The best values of mental health-related variables were found in the rational/nonavoidant profile and the most negative values in the avoidant/spontaneous profile. The decision-making styles were stable after 1 year although they were not able to explain changes in mental health-related variables. Study 2 identified three similar clusters in a more general sample—spontaneous/irrational, dependent/avoidant and rational/nonavoidant—with the lowest level of psychological distress symptoms in the rational/nonavoidant cluster. The study highlights the usefulness of combinations of decision-making styles with regard to mental health as well as noting their specificity according to sample characteristics.     

1996至2016年中国老年人心理健康变迁的横断历史研究

为探究中国老年人心理健康水平随年代的变迁,运用横断历史研究方法对1996至2016年间160篇采用90项症状自评量表（SCL-90）的研究报告进行元分析。研究发现：（1）SCL-90各因子与年代均呈显著正相关,说明我国老年人心理健康水平在逐年下降。（2）SCL-90各因子与3项社会指标（离婚率、死亡率和犯罪率）有显著正相关。（3）不同性别老年人的心理健康水平均呈逐年下降趋势,但心理健康水平得分的性别差异并不显著。（4）城市老年人的心理健康水平呈逐年下降的趋势,而农村老年人的心理健康水平则呈逐年上升趋势。     

中小学生正念注意觉知与心理健康：情绪调节和积极重评的跨时间中介作用

本研究探讨中小学生正念注意觉知的发展及其与心理健康的关系,并考察情绪调节和积极重评在其中起到的中介作用。研究采用追踪设计,来自江西地区两所小学(4到6年级)和两所中学(7到9年级)的共1251名学生(男生691人,女生560人)在间隔半年的两个时间点分别填写了测量正念注意觉知、心理健康(生活满意度、抑郁、焦虑、学业压力)、情绪调节以及积极重评的问卷。结果表明：(1)中学生正念注意觉知显著低于小学生;(2)中小学生正念注意觉知与两个时间点的情绪调节、积极重评及心理健康均显著相关;(3)跨时间点中介效应检验结果表明,在中小学生正念注意觉知和各心理健康变量的关系中,情绪调节中介效应均显著,积极重评中介效应均不显著。结论：中小学生正念注意觉知与心理健康密切相关,正念注意觉知通过情绪调节能力间接作用于中小学生心理健康。