1,721,162 research outputs found
European Psychiatric Association guidance on the quality of mental health services
No full textThe main aim of this guidance of the European Psychiatric Association is to provide evidence-based recommendations on the quality of mental health services in Europe. The recommendations were derived from a systematic search of the best available evidence in the scientific literature, supplemented by information from documents retrieved upon reviewing the identified articles. While most recommendations could be based on empirical studies (although of varying quality), some had to be based on expert opinion alone, but were deemed necessary as well. Another limitation was that the wide variety of service models and service traditions for the mentally ill worldwide often made generalisations difficult. In spite of these limitations, we arrived at 30 recommendations covering structure, process and outcome quality both on a generic and a setting-specific level. Operationalisations for each recommendation with measures to be considered as denominators and numerators are given as well to suggest quality indicators for future benchmarking across European countries. Further pan-European research will need to show whether the implementation of this guidance will lead to improved quality of mental healthcare, and may help to develop useful country-specific cutoffs for the suggested quality indicators
Gender differences in the correlations between cortisol levels or dhea- s/cortisol ratio and panic-agoraphobic dimension in healthy subjects
No full textIntroduction
A link between anxiety and disfunctions of the Hypotalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been widely reported in both normal and pathological anxiety, but research findings are controversial.
Objectives
To explore gender differences in the relationships between cortisol and neurosteroids and subthreshold anxiety dimensions.
Aims
To investigate the possible correlations between serum cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S) levels, or DHEA-S/cortisol ratio, and the subthreshold panic dimensions in a sample of healthy subjects.Methods
Forty-two Italian civilians, without current or lifetime psychiatry disorders, were recruited and assessed by means of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I/P) and a specific questionnaire, the so-called Panic Agoraphobic Spectrum-Self Report lifetime version (PAS-SR), for assessing subthreshold panic-agoraphobic dimensions.
Results
The results showed the presence of significant negative correlations between the cortisol levels and the total scores of the PAS-SR and of the following domains: separation sensitivity, panic like symptoms and medication/substance sensitivity. The PAS-SR total and the panic-like symptoms domain scores were related positively to the DHEAS/cortisol ratio. When the sample was distinguished in women and men, it turned out that this correlations were present only in women.
Conclusions
This findings would indicate that cortisol levels are related to subthreshold panic-agoraphobic symptoms, with a gender specificity. Therefore, further studies are needed to investigate those subthreshold conditions in order to indentify possible gender differences that may account for phenotypes at higher risk for psychiatric disorders
Climate Change and Mental Health: Position Paper of the European Psychiatric Association.
Get PDFBackground. Climate change is one of the greatest threats to health that societies face and can adversely affect mental health. Given the current lack of a European consensus paper on the interplay between climate change and mental health, we signal a need for a pan-European position paper about this topic, written by stakeholders working in mental health care. Methods. On behalf of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA), we give recommendations to make mental health care, research, and education more sustainable based on a narrative review of the literature. Results. Examples of sustainable mental healthcare comprise preventive strategies, interdisciplinary collaborations, evidence-based patient care, addressing social determinants of mental health, maintaining health services during extreme weather events, optimising use of resources, and sustainable facility management. In mental health research, sustainable strategies include investigating the impact of climate change on mental health, promoting research on climate change interventions, strengthening the evidence base for mental health-care recommendations, evaluating the allocation of research funding, and establishing evidence-based definitions and clinical approaches for emerging issues such as ‘eco-distress’. Regarding mental health education, planetary health, which refers to human health and how it is intertwined with ecosystems, may be integrated into educational courses. Conclusions. The EPA is committed to combat climate change as the latter poses a threat to the future of mental health care. The current EPA position paper on climate change and mental health may be of interest to a diverse readership of stakeholders, including clinicians, researchers, educators, patients, and policymakers.</p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Urban mental health: a position paper of the European psychiatric association
No full textAbstract
Background
Urbanization, the shift of a growing population into urban areas, is shaping global development across infrastructure, health, and sustainability. Although it brings economic growth, innovation, and improved access to services, it may also impact mental health.
Methods
The present article was prepared on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association and explores the complexity of associations between urbanization and mental health, highlighting both potential risks and opportunities for improvement.
Results
Urban growth often leads to increased population density, social fragmentation, and environmental stressors, including noise, pollution, and reduced green spaces, all of which might account for worsening mental health. Urban residents might be at risk of various mental disorders due to these stressors, accompanied by the risk of social disconnection. Moreover, socioeconomic disparities in urban settings can lead to unequal healthcare access, further contributing to these challenges. However, urbanization also offers unique opportunities to improve mental health through better resource allocation, innovative healthcare solutions, and community-building initiatives. Indeed, cities might serve as areas for mental health promotion by integrating mental health services into primary care, utilizing digital health technologies, and fostering environments that promote social interactions and well-being. Urban planning that prioritizes green spaces, safe housing, and accessible public transportation holds the potential to mitigate some risks related to urban living.
Conclusions
While urbanization presents significant challenges to mental health, it also provides grounds for transformative interventions. Addressing the mental health needs of urban populations requires a multifaceted approach that includes policy reform, community engagement, and sustainable urban planning
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