Mental health

In recent years, school counselors and education have faced an increase in mental health challenges, which has had adverse effects on school counseling (Marraccini et al., 2023). Seventy-six percent of state counseling coordinators report insufficient school counselors available to fill positions (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2023b). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2023) estimates that 26,600 jobs per year will become available for school counselors, career counselors, and advisors over the next 10 years due to attrition and retirement from the profession.
This nonexperimental, correlational design explored the relationships between the volunteer school counselors’ (N= 56) developmental stage and perceived leadership behaviors, wellness, burnout, and turnover intention. The linear regression results revealed that school counselors’ years of experience predicted their leadership related to systemic collaboration and turnover intention. When exploring leadership behaviors, linear regressions found that counselors’ interpersonal skills predicted their perceptions of wellness and burnout, and systemic collaboration and resourceful problem-solving skills predicted a counselor’s level of burnout regarding their feelings of incompetence. Also, the participants’ professional efficacy predicted wellness and incompetence. Finally, social justice had a statistically significant relationship with incompetence and devaluing clients. The results of this study show moderate to strong relationships amongst select variables. The results, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.

LGBTQ+ individuals currently represent 7.1% of the population yet seek mental health services at rates two to four times higher than average, and present with significantly higher rates of depression, anxiety, stress, substance abuse, and suicidality. LGBTQ+ youth have the highest rates of suicidality of any minority group, with a recent poll reporting 22-32% attempted suicide compared to 5% of non-LGBTQ+ youth. These statistics are influenced by discrimination, stigma, and living in a heterosexist society and can lead to psychological distress, identity concealment, internalized homophobia, and stigma-based rejection explained through Minority Stress Theory. LGBTQ+ polls recently revealed an average of 80% identify as religious and/or spiritual. The purpose of this study is to better understand the risks or rewards of the intersecting identities of religiosity, spirituality and being LGBTQ+. In this quantitative non-experimental design study using Pearson’s R correlation, multiple relationships were found among the variables of spirituality, religiosity, age, being non-white, minority stress, and symptoms. of depression, anxiety, and stress. Multiple regression analysis found that spirituality, religiosity, and minority stress predicted 52% of the variance in depression, anxiety, and stress. Finally, a mediation analysis revealed that religiosity was not statistically significant as a mediator between minority stress and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress, but spirituality was statistically significant as a partial mediator of these effects and, therefore, strong emphasis is placed on the benefits spirituality can have among LGBTQ+ individuals.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), involving abuse, neglect, and violence exposure, have been connected to undesirable physical and mental health consequences across the life span. With regards to the range of factors that moderates the impact of ACEs on life course health, resilience is suggested as a quality that can lead to better health and quality of life outcomes. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between adult-reported ACEs, resilience, and mental and physical health in Saudi Arabia. The study was a predictive/correlational design. A total of 328 participants completed the online questionnaire through (Qualtrics). The independent variables were ACEs and resilience while the dependent variable was physical and mental health. The variables were measured by: 1) The ACE International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ). 2) The Physical and Mental Health Checklist. 3) The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale -25 (CD-RISC-25). Descriptive statics showed that 97% of participants were medically diagnosed with some health illnesses and they were under the age of 45 years old.

Personal wellness and burnout have been common themes in research studies regarding professional satisfaction and career success. Personality characteristics in relation to job and career success among professionals have also been included in countless studies. However, Bateman and Crant (1993) defined and began research on the specific construct of the proactive personality and how it related to personal achievement, satisfaction, and success among executives. This dissertation study is an extension of their research in that the relationship between proactive personality, job satisfaction and levels of burnout among Licensed Mental Health Counselors in Florida specifically, is being examined. While proactive personality positively and significantly related to job satisfaction and satisfaction with being a counselor among the participants in this study, it did not significantly relate to feelings of emotional exhaustion or feelings of depersonalization toward clients. When age, salary, years licensed, and proactive personality in relation to job satisfaction and levels of burnout were included in the statistical analysis, proactive personality and salary positively related to job satisfaction, personal accomplishment, and satisfaction with being a counselor, but the relationships were not significant. Hence, the results of this study provides useful information regarding proactive personality and how it relates to the overall job satisfaction, levels of burnout among clinicians, and to assist in the development of wellness programs, burnout prevention, and in the empowerment of mental health professionals in this demanding field.

Telomeres is a manuscript-length lyric essay in many parts that traces the relationship of the narrator and her father as they both navigate the landscape of post-traumatic stress disorder after his return from Vietnam.

Diminished affective behavior is a frequently observed concomitant of cognitive dysfunction in the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), yet little is known about their relationship. A neuropsychological battery and electroencephalogram (EEG) recording was conducted on 29 HIV+ (Mage = 35.6 years, SD =5.36) and 30 HIV- (Mage =32.9 years, SD =6.39) women recruited from a family AIDS care program in South Florida. Using an emotion regulation paradigm, we compared event-related potentials (ERPs) following cues to view-neutral, view-negative and reappraise-negative images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). A group X instruction interaction was found for the P200 and early (400-1000 ms) late positive potential (LPP). Executive function, i.e., frequent task-switching predicted the attenuation of the early and late LPP following cues to up-regulate negative emotions. Greater response inhibition predicted attenuation of the LPP during the down-regulation of negative emotions. These findings suggest limited cognitive resources for the reappraisal of emotions in women with HIV.

Wigging Out, a memoir, chronicles my first chemotherapy treatment which began in 2008 for the autoimmune disease Lupus. The primary focus is on how identity is affected by disability. Each symptom of my disease and side effect from my medications prompted a reevaluation of my identity as I felt a change both in myself and in the way others perceived me. In order to maintain a sense of control, I tried several techniques to pass and cover my disabled status, including the use of prosthetic hair pieces. Ultimately, the use of prosthetics made accepting my situation more difficult as it encouraged holding onto a former identity rather than creating a new one. It was not until I stopped using prosthetics as a form of denial and instead adopted them as part of a new identity that I was finally able to achieve the confidence necessary to fight for my life.

Data was provided by researchers of the Einstein Aging Study (EAS) of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University whom statistically analyzed data from the Bronx Aging Study cohort, concluding that participation in cognitive leisure activities and one physical activity, dancing, were associated with a reduced risk of dementia [1]. We explore data from a second (the EAS) cohort, utilizing Cox Proportional-Hazards and extended Cox regression [13]. Cognitive leisure activities in general, and particularly doing crossword puzzles, reading books, watching television, and emailing are associated with a reduced risk of dementia. Doing aerobics, learning computer programming, babysitting, dancing, jogging singing, and weight training are associated with an increased risk of dementia. Participation in cognitive leisure activities in general, and reading books in particular, remains highly significant even after adjustment for well-known risk factors [14] such as: age, cognitive status, depression, medical illnesses, gender, ethnicity, education and economic status.

Approximately 1.76 million men and women have served in the Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) military campaigns since October 2001. The transition from living in a war zone to resuming a fulfilling life at home is often difficult for veterans. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to gain understanding of the issues that complicate health for veterans and approaches veterans used to resolve complicating health issues associated with the challenge of coming home from war. Qualitative data collection and analysis was guided by story inquiry method. Quantitative data was collected using the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey, Version 2 (SF-36v2) and analyzed using QualityMetric Health Outcomes[TM] Score Software, Version 4.0. Seven OEF/OIF veterans who had completed at least one tour of duty in Iraq since October 2001 participated in this study. Three themes emerged from the qualitative data that capture the complicating health issues that participants encountered when coming home from war: flipping the switch, figuring out how to belong, and living the stress of a new normal. Two themes emerged from the qualitative data that capture approaches used to resolve complicating health issues associated with returning home from war: connecting with others and choosing a positive attitude. Quantitative data revealed that the majority of participants scored at or above general population norms on three of the subscales that measure physical health, as well as on two of the subscales that measure mental health; however a significant percentage scored below norms on the subscale that measures social functioning (57%) and on the subscale that directly measures mental health (43%).

Resource allocation theory, Polich (2007) suggests cortical measures may attenuate when processing demands increase. Thirteen HIV-negative women (M = 36.5) and 15 HIV-positive women (M = 36.1) infected were instructed to view neutral and negative IAPS images and then to detect rare tones in a subsequent auditory oddball task. A 2 x 2 ANOVA for the auditory P3 did not indicate a main effect for picture valence however an interaction was found between picture valence and serostatus at location Fz, F(1,24) = 18.99, p<.001. During the visual ERP sequence an interaction between valence and serostatus was found at the Pz location, F(1,24) = 18.99, p<.001, meaning the late positive potential (LPP) was not modulated between viewing neutral and negative images in HIV-positive women. These findings suggest that the manifestation of HIV in women may alter the neural processing of emotions, though not to the detriment of a subsequent cognitive task.