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The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in individuals with pre-existing mental illness
Get PDFBackgroundThere is evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected mental health, but most studies have been conducted in the general population.AimsTo identify factors associated with mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with pre-existing mental illness.MethodParticipants (N = 2869, 78% women, ages 18–94 years) from a UK cohort (the National Centre for Mental Health) with a history of mental illness completed a cross-sectional online survey in June to August 2020. Mental health assessments were the GAD-7 (anxiety), PHQ-9 (depression) and WHO-5 (well-being) questionnaires, and a self-report question on whether their mental health had changed during the pandemic. Regressions examined associations between mental health outcomes and hypothesised risk factors. Secondary analyses examined associations between specific mental health diagnoses and mental health.ResultsA total of 60% of participants reported that mental health had worsened during the pandemic. Younger age, difficulty accessing mental health services, low income, income affected by COVID-19, worry about COVID-19, reduced sleep and increased alcohol/drug use were associated with increased depression and anxiety symptoms and reduced well-being. Feeling socially supported by friends/family/services was associated with better mental health and well-being. Participants with a history of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or eating disorder were more likely to report that mental health had worsened during the pandemic than individuals without a history of these diagnoses.ConclusionsWe identified factors associated with worse mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with pre-existing mental illness, in addition to specific groups potentially at elevated risk of poor mental health during the pandemic
Ten people-centered rules for socially sustainable ecosystem restoration
Get PDFAs the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration begins, there remains insufficient emphasis on the human and social dimensions of restoration. The potential that restoration holds for achieving both ecological and social goals can only be met through a shift toward people-centered restoration strategies. Toward this end, this paper synthesizes critical insights from a special issue on “Restoration for whom, by whom” to propose actionable ways to center humans and social dimensions in ecosystem restoration, with the aim of generating fair and sustainable initiatives. These rules respond to a relative silence on socio-political issues in di Sacco et al.'s “Ten golden rules for reforestation to optimize carbon sequestration, biodiversity recovery and livelihood benefits” on socio-political issues and offer complementary guidance to their piece. Arranged roughly in order from pre-intervention, design/initiation, implementation, through the monitoring, evaluation and learning phases, the 10 people-centered rules are: (1) Recognize diversity and interrelations among stakeholders and rightsholders'; (2) Actively engage communities as agents of change; (3) Address socio-historical contexts; (4) Unpack and strengthen resource tenure for marginalized groups; (5) Advance equity across its multiple dimensions and scales; (6) Generate multiple benefits; (7) Promote an equitable distribution of costs, risks, and benefits; (8) Draw on different types of evidence and knowledge; (9) Question dominant discourses; and (10) Practice inclusive and holistic monitoring, evaluation, and learning. We contend that restoration initiatives are only tenable when the issues raised in these rules are respectfully addressed
Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify Floral Visitation by Pollinators
Get PDFThe identification of floral visitation by pollinators provides an opportunity to improve our understanding of the fine-scale ecological interactions between plants and pollinators, contributing to biodiversity conservation and promoting ecosystem health. In this review, we outline the various methods which can be used to identify floral visitation, including plant-focused and insect-focused methods. We reviewed the literature covering the ways in which DNA metabarcoding has been used to answer ecological questions relating to plant use by pollinators and discuss the findings of this research. We present detailed methodological considerations for each step of the metabarcoding workflow, from sampling through to amplification, and finally bioinformatic analysis. Detailed guidance is provided to researchers for utilisation of these techniques, emphasising the importance of standardisation of methods and improving the reliability of results. Future opportunities and directions of using molecular methods to analyse plant–pollinator interactions are then discussed
On the merits of a unified physics and engineering undergraduate programme of study
Get PDFThe merits of a pedagogic and programmatic unification between physics and several engineering disciplines at the undergraduate level are discussed. Arguments for such a unification are presented, based on the strong overlap of core teaching material and the similarity of career trajectories in the modern job market for physics and engineering graduates. In addition to providing a level of robustness for academic institutions against external factors such as fluctuating student intake numbers, such a merger can also have positive dividends for increased inclusion of minority and female students in STEM fields. The widespread availability and affordability of advanced laboratory equipment, computing hardware/software and other technical infrastructure at the current time is also highlighted as a reason for the practical feasibility of this approach
Adolygiad cyflym o effaith cynllun swyddfa ar iechyd, cynhyrchiant a chynaliadwyedd gweithwyr
Get PDFStroke survivors experience elevated levels of loneliness: a multi-year analysis of the National Survey for Wales
Get PDFObjective: Despite clinical observation that stroke survivors frequently experience loneliness, there is no large-scale empirical evidence to support this observation. Therefore, the primary objective of this research was to provide the first large-scale and comprehensive estimate of loneliness in the stroke survivor population. Method: To address this issue, we completed two pre-registered analyses of a nationally representative annual survey (N> 21 000). A two-phase approach was adopted combining both exploratory (Study 1) and confirmatory (Study 2) phases. The benefit of such an approach is that replication is built into the design, which considerably strengthens the inferences that can be made. Results: Across two separate cohorts, the results consistently showed that human stroke survivors report higher levels of loneliness compared to healthy individuals, and this relationship could not be accounted for by demographic factors (e.g., age, sex) or objective measures of social isolation (e.g., marital status, number of household members). Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that elevated levels of loneliness post-stroke are robust in that they replicate in large nationally representative samples and cannot be reduced to objective measures of social isolation. The work has clinical and societal relevance by suggesting that loneliness post-stroke is unlikely to be adequately “treated” if only the quantity and not the quality of social experiences are considered
Rewilding: An emotional nature
Get PDFRewilding is an emotional subject. It inspires passions and argument in spades. As a form of conservation, rewilding offers exciting possibilities to address ecological crises but it is also a threat for many people, leading to dispute and impasse. This paper explores the role emotions play both to inspire rewilding and in the ensuing conflicts. Informed by emotional geographies and feminist political ecology, the analysis attends to the socio-cultural differences underpinning emotional response and argues that emotions need to be taken seriously to better understand the socio-natural processes underway. Unravelling the work that emotions do, the experience of joy, arising from time spent in nature, is seen to initiate a desire for rewilding amongst activists. By contrast, for opponents, rewilding prompts a sense of anger, which arises in response to a perceived threat to their identity as farmers and associated feelings of vulnerability. Critically, this vulnerability often remains occluded by the dominance of anger within debates, which explains why conflict has become so intractable. However, by attending to the full register of emotions at work, including those that are not always surfaced, and by better understanding the basis of such emotions, an avenue towards greater empathy is proposed
Surfacing the Perspective of Autistic Girls Aged Between Thirteen and Eighteen Within a Complex Social Discourse on Autism: A Qualitative Inquiry
Get PDFPredicting undergraduate students’ learning from a lecture: The role of self-control, motivation, and mental effort.
Get PDFFor the first time, the present study investigated the combined role of selfcontrol, motivation, and mental effort in predicting undergraduate students’ learning from a two-hour presentation-format higher education lecture. The study comprised 62 students, in a final-year BSc undergraduate Sports Coaching lecture, who completed questionnaires measuring: state self-control during the lecture; mastery approach and performance avoidance motivation towards learning the course topic; mental effort invested during the lecture; and content retention immediately after the lecture (i.e., learning). Moderated mediation analyses revealed that greater levels of state self-control (W variable) were necessary for students to transform their motivation (X variable; mastery approach or performance avoidance) into mental effort (M variable) to benefit their learning (Y variable) during the lecture. Avenues for applied interventions to motivate students and increase their self-control resources within higher education environments are discussed