Yasuhiro Kotera | University of Derby (original) (raw)

Conference Presentations by Yasuhiro Kotera

Frontiers in Psychology

Call for papers Today, mental health is regarded as an important aspect of human life in many so... more Call for papers

Today, mental health is regarded as an important aspect of human life in many societies. For example, the British government published the ‘No health without mental health’ policy in 2011, emphasizing the importance of mental health to our wellbeing. Likewise, the Japanese government implemented a new policy to reform people’s working styles to reduce high rates of mental health problems in 2018. Focus on mental health has become more salient since the outbreak of COVID-19. Despite the abovementioned initiatives and global changes, how mental health is perceived across different cultures remains to be examined. This Research Topic was developed to address this global problem.

Although mental health has been widely discussed, the definition and understanding of mental health remain to be refined. This is partly caused by a lack of cross-cultural perspectives on mental health. Moreover, due to the rapid internationalization taking place in the world today, a culturally aware understanding of, and interventions for mental health problems are essential. Accordingly, this Research Topic aims to fill this gap and deepen our understanding of mental health by comparing positive and negative psychological constructs cross-culturally, and discussing how cultures may be related to their similarities and differences. Insights offered in this Research Topic will help inform diverse perspectives on mental health and contribute to constructing a more universal definition of mental health.

More details; https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/23522/comparing-mental-health-cross-culturally

Books by Yasuhiro Kotera

Call for chapters, 2020

At the time of writing, there are thought to be close to 800,000 deaths worldwide per year as a r... more At the time of writing, there are thought to be close to 800,000 deaths worldwide per year as a result of suicide. Not only does suicide, and attempts thereof, have direct and immediate consequences for the individual, but it often accompanies far-reaching and long-lasting effects on families, friends, and loved-ones. National health care providers and charities are stretched both in terms of finances and resources, leaving those at greater risk to attempt suicide waiting longer for pharmaceutical and therapeutic treatment. As such, there is a distinct and timely need to explore alternative means by which we can better understand, predict, and intervene in antecedent factors to self-harm and suicide. In Japan, recent suicide prevention policies have incorporated the need to enhance ‘ikigai’ as a means of reducing the growing number of suicides (Ministry of Health and Labour Welfare, 2017). Ikigai is a psychological construct thought to reflect ones’ ‘purpose in life’ or ‘reason for living’, and until recently, has only been explored in Japanese samples. Across multiple large-scale and longitudinal studies, ikigai is consistently found to be associated with reduced mortality, including incidence of cardiovascular diseases, lesions, and suicide, as well as better mental wellbeing, a finding which has recently been shown to hold true in Western individuals. Whilst empirical research into the presence of ikigai in the West is in its infancy, the concept is becoming better known through newspaper articles as well as books such as “Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life” (García, Miralles, & Cleary, 2017) and “The Little Book of Ikigai: The secret Japanese way to live a happy and long life” (Mogi, 2017). However, no book exists which draws together global empirical research, personal accounts, and reflective commentary on ikigai and its associations with aspects of physical and mental wellbeing. This book proposes to address this need, and seeks chapter contributions on issues including, but not limited to: • Cross-cultural discussion of ikigai; not limited to Japanese culture (and associated perceived differences) • Empirical research on self- and other-reported ikigai in general and clinical samples • Accounts of the role in which ikigai has played on physical and mental wellbeing • The importance of ikigai for mediating situational facets such as stress, anxiety, and depression • Policy implications Each chapter will consist of up to 7000 words, and the estimated total word count for this book is 150,000 words. The anticipated publication date is February 2021. Interested contributing authors please submit a 150-word abstract of your proposed chapter and a copy of your curriculum vitae to Dr. Dean Fido and Mr. Yasuhiro Kotera at d.fido@derby.ac.uk and y.kotera@derby.ac.uk, no later than January 31st 2020.

Papers by Yasuhiro Kotera

Frontiers Research Topics

Call for papers Today, mental health is regarded as an important aspect of human life in many soc... more Call for papers Today, mental health is regarded as an important aspect of human life in many societies. For example, the British government published the ‘No health without mental health’ policy in 2011, emphasizing the importance of mental health to our wellbeing. Likewise, the Japanese government implemented a new policy to reform people’s working styles to reduce high rates of mental health problems in 2018. Focus on mental health has become more salient since the outbreak of COVID-19. Despite the abovementioned initiatives and global changes, how mental health is perceived across different cultures remains to be examined. This Research Topic was developed to address this global problem. Although mental health has been widely discussed, the definition and understanding of mental health remain to be refined. This is partly caused by a lack of cross-cultural perspectives on mental health. Moreover, due to the rapid internationalization taking place in the world today, a culturally aware understanding of, and interventions for mental health problems are essential. Accordingly, this Research Topic aims to fill this gap and deepen our understanding of mental health by comparing positive and negative psychological constructs cross-culturally, and discussing how cultures may be related to their similarities and differences. Insights offered in this Research Topic will help inform diverse perspectives on mental health and contribute to constructing a more universal definition of mental health. More details; https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/23522/comparing-mental-health-cross-culturally

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Healthcare professionals’ wellbeing can be adversely affected by the intense demands of, and the ... more Healthcare professionals’ wellbeing can be adversely affected by the intense demands of, and the secondary traumatic stress associated with, their job. Self-compassion is associated with positive wellbeing outcomes across a variety of workforce populations and is potentially an important skill for healthcare workers, as it offers a way of meeting one’s own distress with kindness and understanding. This systematic review aimed to synthesise and evaluate the utility of self-compassion interventions in reducing secondary traumatic stress in a healthcare worker population. Eligible articles were identified from research databases, including ProQuest, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and EBSCO. The quality of non-randomised and randomised trials was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. The literature search yielded 234 titles, from which 6 studies met the inclusion criteria. Four studies reported promising effects of self-compassion training for secondary traumatic stress i...

JMIR Mental Health

Demand for digital health interventions is increasing in many countries. The use of recorded ment... more Demand for digital health interventions is increasing in many countries. The use of recorded mental health recovery narratives in digital health interventions is becoming more widespread in clinical practice. Mental health recovery narratives are first-person lived experience accounts of recovery from mental health problems, including struggles and successes over time. Helpful impacts of recorded mental health recovery narratives include connectedness with the narrative and validation of experiences. Possible harms include feeling disconnected and excluded from others. Diverse narrative collections from many types of narrators and describing multiple ways to recover are important to maximize the opportunity for service users to benefit through connection and to minimize the likelihood of harm. Mental health clinicians need to know whether narrative collections are sufficiently diverse to recommend to service users. However, no method exists for assessing the diversity and inclusivit...

International Review of Psychiatry

In Germany, more than two-thirds of employees report mental health issues, while in Japan, more t... more In Germany, more than two-thirds of employees report mental health issues, while in Japan, more than half of the country’s workforce are mentally distressed. Although both countries are socio-economically developed in similar ways, their cultures differ strongly. This article investigates mental health constructs among German and Japanese employees. A cross-sectional design was employed in which 257 German and 165 Japanese employees completed self-report scales regarding mental health problems, mental health shame, self-compassion and work motivation. T-tests, correlation and regression analyses were conducted. Results show that German employees have significantly higher levels of mental health problems, mental health shame, self-compassion and work motivation than Japanese employees. While many correlations were similar, mental health problems were associated with intrinsic motivation in Germans, but not in Japanese. Shame was associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in Japanese, but not in Germans. Self-compassion – defined as a complex of compassion, humanity, care and unconditional, compassionate love – was associated with gender and age in Japanese, but not in German employees. Lastly, regression analysis uncovered that self-compassion was the strongest predictor of mental health problems in Germans. In Japanese employees, mental health shame is the strongest predictor of mental health problems. Results can guide managers and psychologists in internationalised organisations to effectively approach employee mental health.

Frontiers in Psychology

Various studies have shown a decrease in well-being and an increase in mental health problems dur... more Various studies have shown a decrease in well-being and an increase in mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, only a few studies have explored fear, depression, and well-being cross-culturally during this time. Accordingly, we present the results of a cross-cultural study that (1) compares these mental health scores for German and South African students, (2) compares the correlations among them, and (3) identifies COVID-19 fear, well-being, and depression predictors. German and South African societies differ from each other socio-culturally, politically, and economically. Their university systems also differ to a large extent. University students in both countries completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Welch’s t-test, correlation, and multiple regression analyses were performed. (1) German students were found to have statistically lower levels of COVID-1...

British journal of child health, Aug 2, 2022

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate a risk of flooding and landslides among home-care patient... more Objective: This study aimed to evaluate a risk of flooding and landslides among home-care patients, to reveal an extent to which patients require support for evacuation, and to determine whether risk was accurately perceived among the patients. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study targeting the patients who were actively treated at the home-care clinic in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. We collected data on the patients’ sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Additionally, we collected data on their risk of flooding and landslides through hazard maps and distributed a questionnaire to these patients regarding their risk awareness of flooding and landslides. Results: Of the 199 eligible home-care patients, 84.9% (169 of 199) were at risk of flooding and/or landslides, and 58.6% (99 of 169) of them needs support during evacuation. Furthermore, of those who were at risk of flooding and/or landslides, 46.0% (45 of 99) had accurate risk assessments. Factors that resulted in inadequa...

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction

Mental health peer support (PS) is a relational approach to recovery. Service users are helped th... more Mental health peer support (PS) is a relational approach to recovery. Service users are helped through a relationship focused on connection with a PS worker who shares similar experiences. Despite the strong evidence base, the mechanisms of action for mental health PS are under-researched. Several theories have been proposed to explain the mechanisms, including social comparison theory (SCT). SCT highlights the benefits arising from emphasising differences between a service user and the PS worker. An unintended consequence is that connection between them may be reduced. We propose common humanity (CH) as an under-acknowledged mechanism of action. CH is an experience recognising that there are other people living with similar suffering, and helps us regulate emotions. A CH-informed connection-based PS relationship may help a service user in different ways from a SCT-informed comparison-based PS relationship. Future PS research can investigate emotional self-regulation to establish wh...

International Journal of Spa and Wellness

Neuro-Linguistic Programming, NLP, has been actively practised for almost a half-century. However... more Neuro-Linguistic Programming, NLP, has been actively practised for almost a half-century. However, the science of NLP has been stagnant for decades, and ethical challenges in research and practice have been reported. This commentary raises specific ethical challenges NLP encounters, relating to the definition, boundaries with other approaches, and unpreparedness for when an intervention does not work. For NLP to further grow, possibly embedded in the national level clinical and educational practices, the NLP community must work together to address these ethical challenges. Modelling the governance of existing professional bodies may inform helpful strategies to overcome these challenges.

Frontiers in Psychiatry

ObjectivesThe specific objectives of the study are to examine the mental health (depression and a... more ObjectivesThe specific objectives of the study are to examine the mental health (depression and anxiety) of the first generation of post-Taliban government and compare these measures with its preceding generation, and to assess war experience of the first generation of post-Taliban government. We also wanted to assess the daily stressors and their contribution to the mental health, and to assess mental health as a result of war experiences and daily stressors with respect to demographic measures such as sex, marital status, age, mother's age, birth order, and ethnicities.MethodsIn a cross-sectional design, 621 high school students, were randomly selected to participate in the study to assess war experience, daily stressors, and mental health among the first generation of young adults under post-Taliban government.ResultsThe participants had 17.37 ± 0.9 mean years of ages, 94.8% of them were unmarried. Poor mental health was significantly associated with higher exposure to war, b...

British Journal of Guidance & Counselling

ABSTRACT Self-compassion has been identified as a protective factor against body image concerns, ... more ABSTRACT Self-compassion has been identified as a protective factor against body image concerns, but the relationship has not been explored in women in the menopausal transition, when body image perceptions may be particularly vulnerable. Women in the UK (N = 248) self-reported on levels of body appreciation, body preoccupation, self-compassion and mental distress. Correlation and mediation analyses were used. Results indicated that self-compassion was positively associated with body appreciation and negatively associated with body preoccupation. Mental distress mediated the relationships between self-compassion and body appreciation, and self-compassion and body preoccupation. Findings suggest that self-compassion is important to body image in women in the menopausal transition, and having good mental health can enhance these pathways.

Additional file 1. Interview schedule.

Journal of Concurrent Disorders, 2020

Mental health is a concern in the Republic of Ireland, and in particular the mental health of hig... more Mental health is a concern in the Republic of Ireland, and in particular the mental health of higher education students is challenging. Further, their poor mental health may be negatively impacted by their negative mental health attitudes and caregiver identity, which can yield high self-criticism and low self-reassurance. Accordingly, this study aimed to (i) elucidate the relationships among these five constructs, and (ii) assess the impact of self-criticism and self-reassurance in the relationship between (a) mental health attitudes and mental health, and (b) between caregiver identity and mental health. One-hundred and twenty-nine Irish undergraduate students completed self-report measures regarding these constructs. Correlation and path analyses were conducted. Overall, all variables were related to each other, and in particular family-related shame subscales were strongly related to mental health problems. In path analysis, self-criticism completely mediated the relationship between mental health attitudes and mental health, while self-reassurance did not. Likewise, selfcriticism also completely mediated the relationship between caregiver identity and mental health, while selfreassurance did not. The findings suggest the importance of self-criticism to students' mental health. While current literature highlights the importance of mental health attitudes such as stigma and caregiver identity (a strong sense of identity as someone who offers care), our results indicated that it was their self-criticism that predicted poor mental health. As such, their mental health may be more effectively improved by targeting selfcriticism. Compassion training, peer-support groups, and reframing were recommended to counter selfcriticism. Our findings will help educators and researchers identify alternative and more effective means of improving mental health in Irish students.

International Journal of Spa and Wellness, 2022

ABSTRACT As the importance of mental health has started to be recognised in the last decade in th... more ABSTRACT As the importance of mental health has started to be recognised in the last decade in the United Kingdom, mental health support in the country has been strengthened involving diverse services and teams such as primary care, local community mental health teams and crisis teams. While the current structure appears to support all levels of mental health issues, this perspective paper highlights the access to talking therapies in the local community mental health teams. Delayed treatment or non-treatment for mental health problems can cause serious consequences including suicides. Information sharing, training, and flexible pathways are suggested as the first step to fill in the gap in the mental health services in the country.

BMJ Open, 2022

ObjectivesThe detrimental impacts of abuse on victims’ well-being are well documented globally, i... more ObjectivesThe detrimental impacts of abuse on victims’ well-being are well documented globally, including Japan. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may increase the incidence of abuse in the community, creating an additional burden amid the crisis. However, the incidence of abuse in Japan during COVID-19 remains to be evaluated. Accordingly, our study aimed to assess the incidence of physical and verbal abuse among the general population in Japan and to identify the associated factors of abuse during COVID-19.Design and settingWe used the data obtained from a nationwide, cross-sectional internet survey conducted in Japan between August and September 2020. Sampling weights were used to calculate national estimates, and multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify the associated factors for physical and verbal abuse.ResultsOut of the total 25 482 participants, 965 (3.8 %) reported experiencing physical abuse and 1941 (7.6%) verbal abuse from April 2020 to September 2020. The...

Frontiers in Psychology

Call for papers Today, mental health is regarded as an important aspect of human life in many so... more Call for papers

Today, mental health is regarded as an important aspect of human life in many societies. For example, the British government published the ‘No health without mental health’ policy in 2011, emphasizing the importance of mental health to our wellbeing. Likewise, the Japanese government implemented a new policy to reform people’s working styles to reduce high rates of mental health problems in 2018. Focus on mental health has become more salient since the outbreak of COVID-19. Despite the abovementioned initiatives and global changes, how mental health is perceived across different cultures remains to be examined. This Research Topic was developed to address this global problem.

Although mental health has been widely discussed, the definition and understanding of mental health remain to be refined. This is partly caused by a lack of cross-cultural perspectives on mental health. Moreover, due to the rapid internationalization taking place in the world today, a culturally aware understanding of, and interventions for mental health problems are essential. Accordingly, this Research Topic aims to fill this gap and deepen our understanding of mental health by comparing positive and negative psychological constructs cross-culturally, and discussing how cultures may be related to their similarities and differences. Insights offered in this Research Topic will help inform diverse perspectives on mental health and contribute to constructing a more universal definition of mental health.

More details; https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/23522/comparing-mental-health-cross-culturally

Call for chapters, 2020

At the time of writing, there are thought to be close to 800,000 deaths worldwide per year as a r... more At the time of writing, there are thought to be close to 800,000 deaths worldwide per year as a result of suicide. Not only does suicide, and attempts thereof, have direct and immediate consequences for the individual, but it often accompanies far-reaching and long-lasting effects on families, friends, and loved-ones. National health care providers and charities are stretched both in terms of finances and resources, leaving those at greater risk to attempt suicide waiting longer for pharmaceutical and therapeutic treatment. As such, there is a distinct and timely need to explore alternative means by which we can better understand, predict, and intervene in antecedent factors to self-harm and suicide. In Japan, recent suicide prevention policies have incorporated the need to enhance ‘ikigai’ as a means of reducing the growing number of suicides (Ministry of Health and Labour Welfare, 2017). Ikigai is a psychological construct thought to reflect ones’ ‘purpose in life’ or ‘reason for living’, and until recently, has only been explored in Japanese samples. Across multiple large-scale and longitudinal studies, ikigai is consistently found to be associated with reduced mortality, including incidence of cardiovascular diseases, lesions, and suicide, as well as better mental wellbeing, a finding which has recently been shown to hold true in Western individuals. Whilst empirical research into the presence of ikigai in the West is in its infancy, the concept is becoming better known through newspaper articles as well as books such as “Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life” (García, Miralles, & Cleary, 2017) and “The Little Book of Ikigai: The secret Japanese way to live a happy and long life” (Mogi, 2017). However, no book exists which draws together global empirical research, personal accounts, and reflective commentary on ikigai and its associations with aspects of physical and mental wellbeing. This book proposes to address this need, and seeks chapter contributions on issues including, but not limited to: • Cross-cultural discussion of ikigai; not limited to Japanese culture (and associated perceived differences) • Empirical research on self- and other-reported ikigai in general and clinical samples • Accounts of the role in which ikigai has played on physical and mental wellbeing • The importance of ikigai for mediating situational facets such as stress, anxiety, and depression • Policy implications Each chapter will consist of up to 7000 words, and the estimated total word count for this book is 150,000 words. The anticipated publication date is February 2021. Interested contributing authors please submit a 150-word abstract of your proposed chapter and a copy of your curriculum vitae to Dr. Dean Fido and Mr. Yasuhiro Kotera at d.fido@derby.ac.uk and y.kotera@derby.ac.uk, no later than January 31st 2020.

Frontiers Research Topics

Call for papers Today, mental health is regarded as an important aspect of human life in many soc... more Call for papers Today, mental health is regarded as an important aspect of human life in many societies. For example, the British government published the ‘No health without mental health’ policy in 2011, emphasizing the importance of mental health to our wellbeing. Likewise, the Japanese government implemented a new policy to reform people’s working styles to reduce high rates of mental health problems in 2018. Focus on mental health has become more salient since the outbreak of COVID-19. Despite the abovementioned initiatives and global changes, how mental health is perceived across different cultures remains to be examined. This Research Topic was developed to address this global problem. Although mental health has been widely discussed, the definition and understanding of mental health remain to be refined. This is partly caused by a lack of cross-cultural perspectives on mental health. Moreover, due to the rapid internationalization taking place in the world today, a culturally aware understanding of, and interventions for mental health problems are essential. Accordingly, this Research Topic aims to fill this gap and deepen our understanding of mental health by comparing positive and negative psychological constructs cross-culturally, and discussing how cultures may be related to their similarities and differences. Insights offered in this Research Topic will help inform diverse perspectives on mental health and contribute to constructing a more universal definition of mental health. More details; https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/23522/comparing-mental-health-cross-culturally

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Healthcare professionals’ wellbeing can be adversely affected by the intense demands of, and the ... more Healthcare professionals’ wellbeing can be adversely affected by the intense demands of, and the secondary traumatic stress associated with, their job. Self-compassion is associated with positive wellbeing outcomes across a variety of workforce populations and is potentially an important skill for healthcare workers, as it offers a way of meeting one’s own distress with kindness and understanding. This systematic review aimed to synthesise and evaluate the utility of self-compassion interventions in reducing secondary traumatic stress in a healthcare worker population. Eligible articles were identified from research databases, including ProQuest, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and EBSCO. The quality of non-randomised and randomised trials was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. The literature search yielded 234 titles, from which 6 studies met the inclusion criteria. Four studies reported promising effects of self-compassion training for secondary traumatic stress i...

JMIR Mental Health

Demand for digital health interventions is increasing in many countries. The use of recorded ment... more Demand for digital health interventions is increasing in many countries. The use of recorded mental health recovery narratives in digital health interventions is becoming more widespread in clinical practice. Mental health recovery narratives are first-person lived experience accounts of recovery from mental health problems, including struggles and successes over time. Helpful impacts of recorded mental health recovery narratives include connectedness with the narrative and validation of experiences. Possible harms include feeling disconnected and excluded from others. Diverse narrative collections from many types of narrators and describing multiple ways to recover are important to maximize the opportunity for service users to benefit through connection and to minimize the likelihood of harm. Mental health clinicians need to know whether narrative collections are sufficiently diverse to recommend to service users. However, no method exists for assessing the diversity and inclusivit...

International Review of Psychiatry

In Germany, more than two-thirds of employees report mental health issues, while in Japan, more t... more In Germany, more than two-thirds of employees report mental health issues, while in Japan, more than half of the country’s workforce are mentally distressed. Although both countries are socio-economically developed in similar ways, their cultures differ strongly. This article investigates mental health constructs among German and Japanese employees. A cross-sectional design was employed in which 257 German and 165 Japanese employees completed self-report scales regarding mental health problems, mental health shame, self-compassion and work motivation. T-tests, correlation and regression analyses were conducted. Results show that German employees have significantly higher levels of mental health problems, mental health shame, self-compassion and work motivation than Japanese employees. While many correlations were similar, mental health problems were associated with intrinsic motivation in Germans, but not in Japanese. Shame was associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in Japanese, but not in Germans. Self-compassion – defined as a complex of compassion, humanity, care and unconditional, compassionate love – was associated with gender and age in Japanese, but not in German employees. Lastly, regression analysis uncovered that self-compassion was the strongest predictor of mental health problems in Germans. In Japanese employees, mental health shame is the strongest predictor of mental health problems. Results can guide managers and psychologists in internationalised organisations to effectively approach employee mental health.

Frontiers in Psychology

Various studies have shown a decrease in well-being and an increase in mental health problems dur... more Various studies have shown a decrease in well-being and an increase in mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, only a few studies have explored fear, depression, and well-being cross-culturally during this time. Accordingly, we present the results of a cross-cultural study that (1) compares these mental health scores for German and South African students, (2) compares the correlations among them, and (3) identifies COVID-19 fear, well-being, and depression predictors. German and South African societies differ from each other socio-culturally, politically, and economically. Their university systems also differ to a large extent. University students in both countries completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Welch’s t-test, correlation, and multiple regression analyses were performed. (1) German students were found to have statistically lower levels of COVID-1...

British journal of child health, Aug 2, 2022

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate a risk of flooding and landslides among home-care patient... more Objective: This study aimed to evaluate a risk of flooding and landslides among home-care patients, to reveal an extent to which patients require support for evacuation, and to determine whether risk was accurately perceived among the patients. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study targeting the patients who were actively treated at the home-care clinic in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. We collected data on the patients’ sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Additionally, we collected data on their risk of flooding and landslides through hazard maps and distributed a questionnaire to these patients regarding their risk awareness of flooding and landslides. Results: Of the 199 eligible home-care patients, 84.9% (169 of 199) were at risk of flooding and/or landslides, and 58.6% (99 of 169) of them needs support during evacuation. Furthermore, of those who were at risk of flooding and/or landslides, 46.0% (45 of 99) had accurate risk assessments. Factors that resulted in inadequa...

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction

Mental health peer support (PS) is a relational approach to recovery. Service users are helped th... more Mental health peer support (PS) is a relational approach to recovery. Service users are helped through a relationship focused on connection with a PS worker who shares similar experiences. Despite the strong evidence base, the mechanisms of action for mental health PS are under-researched. Several theories have been proposed to explain the mechanisms, including social comparison theory (SCT). SCT highlights the benefits arising from emphasising differences between a service user and the PS worker. An unintended consequence is that connection between them may be reduced. We propose common humanity (CH) as an under-acknowledged mechanism of action. CH is an experience recognising that there are other people living with similar suffering, and helps us regulate emotions. A CH-informed connection-based PS relationship may help a service user in different ways from a SCT-informed comparison-based PS relationship. Future PS research can investigate emotional self-regulation to establish wh...

International Journal of Spa and Wellness

Neuro-Linguistic Programming, NLP, has been actively practised for almost a half-century. However... more Neuro-Linguistic Programming, NLP, has been actively practised for almost a half-century. However, the science of NLP has been stagnant for decades, and ethical challenges in research and practice have been reported. This commentary raises specific ethical challenges NLP encounters, relating to the definition, boundaries with other approaches, and unpreparedness for when an intervention does not work. For NLP to further grow, possibly embedded in the national level clinical and educational practices, the NLP community must work together to address these ethical challenges. Modelling the governance of existing professional bodies may inform helpful strategies to overcome these challenges.

Frontiers in Psychiatry

ObjectivesThe specific objectives of the study are to examine the mental health (depression and a... more ObjectivesThe specific objectives of the study are to examine the mental health (depression and anxiety) of the first generation of post-Taliban government and compare these measures with its preceding generation, and to assess war experience of the first generation of post-Taliban government. We also wanted to assess the daily stressors and their contribution to the mental health, and to assess mental health as a result of war experiences and daily stressors with respect to demographic measures such as sex, marital status, age, mother's age, birth order, and ethnicities.MethodsIn a cross-sectional design, 621 high school students, were randomly selected to participate in the study to assess war experience, daily stressors, and mental health among the first generation of young adults under post-Taliban government.ResultsThe participants had 17.37 ± 0.9 mean years of ages, 94.8% of them were unmarried. Poor mental health was significantly associated with higher exposure to war, b...

British Journal of Guidance & Counselling

ABSTRACT Self-compassion has been identified as a protective factor against body image concerns, ... more ABSTRACT Self-compassion has been identified as a protective factor against body image concerns, but the relationship has not been explored in women in the menopausal transition, when body image perceptions may be particularly vulnerable. Women in the UK (N = 248) self-reported on levels of body appreciation, body preoccupation, self-compassion and mental distress. Correlation and mediation analyses were used. Results indicated that self-compassion was positively associated with body appreciation and negatively associated with body preoccupation. Mental distress mediated the relationships between self-compassion and body appreciation, and self-compassion and body preoccupation. Findings suggest that self-compassion is important to body image in women in the menopausal transition, and having good mental health can enhance these pathways.

Additional file 1. Interview schedule.

Journal of Concurrent Disorders, 2020

Mental health is a concern in the Republic of Ireland, and in particular the mental health of hig... more Mental health is a concern in the Republic of Ireland, and in particular the mental health of higher education students is challenging. Further, their poor mental health may be negatively impacted by their negative mental health attitudes and caregiver identity, which can yield high self-criticism and low self-reassurance. Accordingly, this study aimed to (i) elucidate the relationships among these five constructs, and (ii) assess the impact of self-criticism and self-reassurance in the relationship between (a) mental health attitudes and mental health, and (b) between caregiver identity and mental health. One-hundred and twenty-nine Irish undergraduate students completed self-report measures regarding these constructs. Correlation and path analyses were conducted. Overall, all variables were related to each other, and in particular family-related shame subscales were strongly related to mental health problems. In path analysis, self-criticism completely mediated the relationship between mental health attitudes and mental health, while self-reassurance did not. Likewise, selfcriticism also completely mediated the relationship between caregiver identity and mental health, while selfreassurance did not. The findings suggest the importance of self-criticism to students' mental health. While current literature highlights the importance of mental health attitudes such as stigma and caregiver identity (a strong sense of identity as someone who offers care), our results indicated that it was their self-criticism that predicted poor mental health. As such, their mental health may be more effectively improved by targeting selfcriticism. Compassion training, peer-support groups, and reframing were recommended to counter selfcriticism. Our findings will help educators and researchers identify alternative and more effective means of improving mental health in Irish students.

International Journal of Spa and Wellness, 2022

ABSTRACT As the importance of mental health has started to be recognised in the last decade in th... more ABSTRACT As the importance of mental health has started to be recognised in the last decade in the United Kingdom, mental health support in the country has been strengthened involving diverse services and teams such as primary care, local community mental health teams and crisis teams. While the current structure appears to support all levels of mental health issues, this perspective paper highlights the access to talking therapies in the local community mental health teams. Delayed treatment or non-treatment for mental health problems can cause serious consequences including suicides. Information sharing, training, and flexible pathways are suggested as the first step to fill in the gap in the mental health services in the country.

BMJ Open, 2022

ObjectivesThe detrimental impacts of abuse on victims’ well-being are well documented globally, i... more ObjectivesThe detrimental impacts of abuse on victims’ well-being are well documented globally, including Japan. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may increase the incidence of abuse in the community, creating an additional burden amid the crisis. However, the incidence of abuse in Japan during COVID-19 remains to be evaluated. Accordingly, our study aimed to assess the incidence of physical and verbal abuse among the general population in Japan and to identify the associated factors of abuse during COVID-19.Design and settingWe used the data obtained from a nationwide, cross-sectional internet survey conducted in Japan between August and September 2020. Sampling weights were used to calculate national estimates, and multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify the associated factors for physical and verbal abuse.ResultsOut of the total 25 482 participants, 965 (3.8 %) reported experiencing physical abuse and 1941 (7.6%) verbal abuse from April 2020 to September 2020. The...

ObjectivesFinancial conflicts of interest (FCOI) between pharmaceutical companies (Pharma) and he... more ObjectivesFinancial conflicts of interest (FCOI) between pharmaceutical companies (Pharma) and healthcare domains may unduly influence physician-led clinical practice and patient-centered care. However, the extent of awareness and perceptions of FCOI among Japanese cancer patients remains unclear. This study aimed to assess these factors and their impacts on physician trustworthiness among Japanese cancer patients.MethodsA cross-sectional study using self-administered surveys was conducted on a Japanese cancer patient advocacy group with 800 registered members from January to February 2019. Main outcome measures included awareness and perceptions of physician-Pharma interactions, their impact on physician trustworthiness, and attitudes towards FCOI among professions. We also performed thematic analyses on additional comments responders provided in the surveys.ResultsAmong the 524 invited members, 96 (18.3%) completed the questionnaire. Of these, 69 (77.5%) were cancer patients. The ...