Danuta Wasserman - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Danuta Wasserman

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2016

sport participation and validated instruments assessing well-being (WHO-5), depressive symptoms (... more sport participation and validated instruments assessing well-being (WHO-5), depressive symptoms (BDI-II) and anxiety (SAS). Multi-level mixed effects linear regression was used to examine associations between physical activity/sport participation and mental health measures. A minority of the sample (17.9 % of boys and 10.7 % of girls; p < 0.0005) reported sufficient activity based on WHO guidelines (60 min + daily). The mean number of days Abstract In this cross-sectional study, physical activity, sport participation and associations with well-being, anxiety and depressive symptoms were examined in a large representative sample of European adolescents. A schoolbased survey was completed by 11,110 adolescents from ten European countries who took part in the SEYLE (Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe) study. The questionnaire included items assessing physical activity,

Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1998

International journal of environmental research and public health, 2014

There is expedient evidence showing that differences in adolescent alcohol consumption and other ... more There is expedient evidence showing that differences in adolescent alcohol consumption and other risk-behaviour depend on both family structure and family member drunkenness exposure. Data were obtained among adolescents (N = 12,115, mean age 14.9 ± 0.89) in Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy,Romania, Slovenia and Spain within the European Union'ss 7th Framework Programme funded project, 'Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE)’. The current study reveals how adolescents' alcohol consumption patterns are related to their family structure and having seen their family member drunk. The results revealed statistically significant differences in adolescent alcohol consumption depending on whether the adolescent lives in a family with both birth parents, in a single-parent family or in a family with one birth parent and one step-parent. The study also revealed that the abstaining from alcohol percentage among adolescents was greater ...

Reproductive Health, 2018

European child & adolescent psychiatry, Jan 14, 2018

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among young people globally. In light of emerging e... more Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among young people globally. In light of emerging evidence supporting the effectiveness of school-based suicide prevention programmes, an analysis of cost-effectiveness is required. We aimed to conduct a full cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of the large pan-European school-based RCT, Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE). The health outcomes of interest were suicide attempt and severe suicidal ideation with suicide plans. Adopting a payer's perspective, three suicide prevention interventions were modelled with a Control over a 12-month time period. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) indicate that the Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM) programme has the lowest incremental cost per 1% point reduction in incident for both outcomes and per quality adjusted life year (QALY) gained versus the Control. The ICERs reported for YAM were €34.83 and €45.42 per 1% point reduction in incident suicide attempt and incident...

The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, Jan 5, 2017

To examine risk and protective factors moderating the associations between three types of bullyin... more To examine risk and protective factors moderating the associations between three types of bullying victimization (physical, verbal, and relational bullying) with suicide ideation/attempts in a large representative sample of European adolescents. We analyzed cross-sectional data on 11,110 students (mean age = 14.9, standard deviation = .89) recruited from 168 schools in 10 European Union countries involved in the Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe study. A self-report questionnaire was used to measure victimization types, depression, anxiety, parental and peer support, and suicide ideation and attempts. For each outcome, we applied hierarchical nonlinear models controlling for sociodemographics. Prevalence of victimization was 9.4% physical, 36.1% verbal, and 33.0% relational. Boys were more likely to be physically and verbally victimized, whereas girls were more prone to relational victimization. Physical victimization was associated with suicide ideation, and relational vi...

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2016

Risk-behaviors are a major contributor to the leading causes of morbidity among adolescents and y... more Risk-behaviors are a major contributor to the leading causes of morbidity among adolescents and young people; however, their association with pathological Internet use (PIU) is relatively unexplored, particularly within the European context. The main objective of this study is to investigate the association between risk-behaviors and PIU in European adolescents. This cross-sectional study was conducted within the framework of the FP7 European Union project: Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE). Data on adolescents were collected from randomized schools within study sites across eleven European countries. PIU was measured using Young's Diagnostic Questionnaire

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2015

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2013

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2013

Indicated prevention of mental illness is an important public health concern among youth. The aim... more Indicated prevention of mental illness is an important public health concern among youth. The aim of this study was to establish a European school-based professional screening among adolescents, which included variables on both a broad range of risk-behaviours and psychopathology; and to investigate the indicative value of adolescent risk-behaviour and self-reported psychopathology on help-seeking and psychological problems that required subsequent mental healthcare. A two-stage professional screening approach was developed and performed within the multi-centre study ''Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe'' (SEYLE). The first stage of screening comprised a self-report questionnaire on a representative sample of 3,070 adolescents from 11 European countries. In the second stage, students deemed at-risk for mental health problems were evaluated using a semistructured clinical interview performed by healthcare professionals. 61 % of participants (n = 1,865) were identified as being at-risk in stage one. In stage two, 384 participants (12.5 % of the original sample) were found to require subsequent mental healthcare during semi-structured, clinical assessment. Among those, 18.5 % of pupils were identified due to screening for psychopathology alone; 29.4 % due to screening for risk-behaviours alone; and 52.1 % by a combination of both. Young age and peer victimization increased help-seeking, while very low body Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1992

BMC Public Health, 2013

Background: Mental health problems and risk behaviours among young people are of great public hea... more Background: Mental health problems and risk behaviours among young people are of great public health concern. Consequently, within the VII Framework Programme, the European Commission funded the Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) project. This Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was conducted in eleven European countries, with Sweden as the coordinating centre, and was designed to identify an effective way to promote mental health and reduce suicidality and risk taking behaviours among adolescents. Objective: To describe the methodological and field procedures in the SEYLE RCT among adolescents, as well as to present the main characteristics of the recruited sample. Methods: Analyses were conducted to determine: 1) representativeness of study sites compared to respective national data; 2) response rate of schools and pupils, drop-out rates from baseline to 3 and 12 month follow-up, 3) comparability of samples among the four Intervention Arms; 4) properties of the standard scales employed: Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-II), Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (Z-SAS), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), World Health Organization Well-Being Scale (WHO-5).

Psychological Medicine, 2001

Background. Much of the interest in hopelessness stems from the key role it plays in the predicti... more Background. Much of the interest in hopelessness stems from the key role it plays in the prediction of suicidal behaviour. To measure hopelessness, Beck et al.(1974)developed a 20-item scale (BHS), applied exploratory factor analysis and argued that the scale measures three specific components (affective, motivational and cognitive). Subsequent exploratory factor analyses identified two, three or more factors underlying the scale.Method. Several confirmatory factor analyses (LISREL) were run on data on 324 suicide attempters in Sweden in order to test the hypothesized factorial structures and to investigate the psychometric properties of the individual items.Results. Neither three- nor two-factor models fitted the data. A simpler structure was sufficient to account for the observed correlations between most of the items. This led to the development of several variants of a one-factor model, each a combination of affective, motivational and cognitive items. The number of items varied...

Archives of Suicide Research, 2002

Measurement, because of its role in the scientific process, is one of the principal concerns in h... more Measurement, because of its role in the scientific process, is one of the principal concerns in human sciences. This study investigates three measurement instruments for attitudes of mental health care staff toward suicidal patients in terms of their dimensionality and the validity and reliability of the individual indicators: the instruments designed by Suokas & L˛nnqvist (1989), Samuelsson,-sberg & Gustavsson (1997) and by Ramberg and Wasserman. The empirical analyses are done with LISREL, a structural equation modeling approach that is particularly useful to study measurement instruments for abstract concepts. This approach provides an explicit test of the dimensionality of a construct and of the validity of each the indicators. It also gives explicit information on measurement error in the observed variables. The results show that each measurement instrument contains several components as hypothesised, but only some of them, tested as confirmatory factor analysis models, produced a good fit. Moreover the validity and the reliability of their indicators varied considerably. Empathy was the most consistently measured component in the three measurement instruments.

The Lancet Psychiatry, 2016

Many countries are developing suicide prevention strategies for which up-to-date, high-quality ev... more Many countries are developing suicide prevention strategies for which up-to-date, high-quality evidence is required. We present updated evidence for the effectiveness of suicide prevention interventions since 2005. We searched PubMed and the Cochrane Library using multiple terms related to suicide prevention for studies published between Jan 1, 2005, and Dec 31, 2014. We assessed seven interventions: public and physician education, media strategies, screening, restricting access to suicide means, treatments, and internet or hotline support. Data were extracted on primary outcomes of interest, namely suicidal behaviour (suicide, attempt, or ideation), and intermediate or secondary outcomes (treatment-seeking, identification of at-risk individuals, antidepressant prescription or use rates, or referrals). 18 suicide prevention experts from 13 European countries reviewed all articles and rated the strength of evidence using the Oxford criteria. Because the heterogeneity of populations and methodology did not permit formal meta-analysis, we present a narrative analysis. We identified 1797 studies, including 23 systematic reviews, 12 meta-analyses, 40 randomised controlled trials (RCTs), 67 cohort trials, and 22 ecological or population-based investigations. Evidence for restricting access to lethal means in prevention of suicide has strengthened since 2005, especially with regard to control of analgesics (overall decrease of 43% since 2005) and hot-spots for suicide by jumping (reduction of 86% since 2005, 79% to 91%). School-based awareness programmes have been shown to reduce suicide attempts (odds ratio [OR] 0·45, 95% CI 0·24-0·85; p=0·014) and suicidal ideation (0·5, 0·27-0·92; p=0·025). The anti-suicidal effects of clozapine and lithium have been substantiated, but might be less specific than previously thought. Effective pharmacological and psychological treatments of depression are important in prevention. Insufficient evidence exists to assess the possible benefits for suicide prevention of screening in primary care, in general public education and media guidelines. Other approaches that need further investigation include gatekeeper training, education of physicians, and internet and helpline support. The paucity of RCTs is a major limitation in the evaluation of preventive interventions. In the quest for effective suicide prevention initiatives, no single strategy clearly stands above the others. Combinations of evidence-based strategies at the individual level and the population level should be assessed with robust research designs. The Expert Platform on Mental Health, Focus on Depression, and the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology.