Differences in characteristics between people with tinnitus that seek help and that do not.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Rademaker MM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8616930 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundOnly a minority of individuals who have substance use disorders receives treatment, and those who do typically have more severe disorders. The current study examines the relationship of help-seeking with remission from alcohol and/or drug dependence and other outcomes.MethodsData from the Wave 1 (2001-2002) and Wave 2 (2004-2005) National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) were used to examine remission at Wave 2 among respondents who had past-year substance dependence disorders at Wave 1 (N=1262). Multi-group structural equation modeling was used to compare individuals with (n=356) and without (n=906) prior help-seeking at Wave 1 on subsequent help-seeking and other factors that influence outcomes.ResultsBaseline help-seekers sought help at higher levels over the follow-up period (31% vs. 8%) and had lower rates of remission (50% vs. 68%), as compared with those without prior help-seeking, respectively. Among baseline help-seekers, there were stronger relationships between baseline stress and mental disorders and having sought help since baseline; age and past-year level of stress at follow-up; level of stress and health status at follow-up; and social support and mental disorders at follow-up. Among baseline non-help-seekers, there were stronger relationships between being female and past-year stress at follow-up, and between having sought help since baseline and physical health status at follow-up.ConclusionsFindings extend our understanding of the factors associated with recovery from substance dependence, including "natural recovery", use of services outside of addiction treatment, and gender differences in help-seeking and remission.
| S-EPMC3786033 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDeliberate Self-Harm (DSH) is a common problem among children and adolescents in clinical and community populations, and there is a considerable amount of literature investigating factors associated with DSH risk and the effects of DSH on the child. However, there is a dearth of research examining the impact of DSH on parents, and there are few support programmes targeted at this population. This cross-sectional study examines the profile of a sample of parents of young people with DSH who participated in a support programme (Supporting Parents and Carers of young people with self-harm: the SPACE programme), with the goal of investigating pre-test parental well-being, family communication, parental satisfaction, perceived parental social support, and child strengths and difficulties.MethodsParticipants were 130 parents who attended the SPACE programme between 2009 and 2012, and who completed six questionnaires at baseline: the General Health Questionnaire-12, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Kansas Parenting Satisfaction Scale, General Functioning Scale of the McMaster Family Assessment Device, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and a demographic questionnaire.ResultsThe majority of parents met criteria for minor psychological distress (86%) and rated the quantity and severity of their children's difficulties as being in the abnormally high range (74%) at baseline. A majority of participants (61%) rated their perceived social support as being poor. Lower parental well-being was significantly correlated with poorer family communication, poorer parenting satisfaction, and a greater number of difficulties for the child. Perceived social support was not significantly correlated with parental well-being. Parents whose children were not attending school at baseline had significantly lower well-being scores than those whose children were. Parents whose children had received a formal diagnosis of a mental health disorder also had significantly lower well-being scores than those whose children had not.ConclusionsParents of young people with DSH behaviours face considerable emotional and practical challenges; they have low levels of well-being, parenting satisfaction, social support, and experience poor family communication. Given the importance of parental support for young people with DSH behaviours, consideration should be given to the need for individual or group support for such parents.
| S-EPMC3645953 | biostudies-literature
Project description:There is strong evidence that children show selectivity in their reliance on others as sources of information, but the findings to date have largely been limited to contexts that involve factual information. The current experiments were designed to determine whether children might also show selectivity in their choice of sources within a problem-solving context. Children in two age groups (20-24 months and 30-36 months, total N=60) were presented with a series of conceptually difficult problem-solving tasks and were given an opportunity to interact with adult experimenters who were depicted as either good helpers or bad helpers. Participants in both age groups preferred to seek help from the good helpers. The findings suggest that even young children evaluate others with reference to their potential to provide help and use this information to guide their behavioral choices.
| S-EPMC3661754 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background:Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) has proven to be an effective treatment in improving patients' ability to cope with tinnitus. However, some patients prefer face-to-face therapy to ICBT, and a few studies have shown considerable dropout rates if the treatment is not guided. This renders it important to identify factors that contribute to the commencement and continuation of ICBT programs. Aims:Because treatment motivation and expectations are important factors in psychological treatment, the aim of our study was to investigate what leads tinnitus patients to seek out ICBT, what helps them to keep up with the treatment, and what (if any) impact these factors have on dropout rates and treatment outcomes. Method:112 tinnitus patients taking part in ICBT for tinnitus responded to symptom-related questionnaires at three points in time (pre-treatment, post-treatment, and one-year-follow-up) and to a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions about their treatment motivation and expectations before beginning treatment. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis, and the results were used to divide the participants into groups. The treatment outcomes of these groups were compared using t-tests, ?2-tests, and both one-factorial and mixed ANOVAs. Results:Four main categories emerged as factors conducive to starting treatment: 1) Targets participants wanted to address, 2) circumstances that led to participation, 3) attitudes towards the treatment, and 4) training features. Participants identified six facilitators for continuing the treatment: success, training, individual attitude, hope, evidence, and support. Naming specific tinnitus-associated problems as targets was associated with greater improvement from pre-treatment to 1-year-follow-up. Describing an active involvement in the treatment was related to increased improvement from post-treatment to follow-up. Conclusion:There are several motivational factors that tinnitus patients consider relevant for beginning and continuing ICBT. Particularly, focusing on specific targets that do not involve the tinnitus itself, and encouraging participants to take an active role in treatment may increase treatment effectiveness. However, further hypothesis-guided research is necessary to confirm our explorative results.
| S-EPMC6096122 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Whilst some studies have identified gender-specific differences, there is no consensus about gender-specific determinants for prevalence rates or concomitant symptoms of chronic tinnitus such as depression or anxiety. However, gender-associated differences in psychological response profiles and coping strategies may differentially affect tinnitus chronification and treatment success rates. Thus, understanding gender-associated differences may facilitate a more detailed identification of symptom profiles, heighten treatment response rates, and help to create access for vulnerable populations that are potentially less visible in clinical settings. Our research questions are: RQ1: how do male and female tinnitus patients differ regarding tinnitus-related distress, depression severity, and treatment response, RQ2: to what extent are answers to questionnaires administered at baseline associated with gender, and RQ3: which baseline questionnaire items are associated with tinnitus distress, depression, and treatment response, while relating to one gender only? In this work, we present a data analysis workflow to investigate gender-specific differences in N = 1,628 patients with chronic tinnitus (828 female, 800 male) who completed a 7-day multimodal treatment encompassing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), physiotherapy, auditory attention training, and information counseling components. For this purpose, we extracted 181 variables from 7 self-report questionnaires on socio-demographics, tinnitus-related distress, tinnitus frequency, loudness, localization, and quality as well as physical and mental health status. Our workflow comprises (i) training machine learning models, (ii) a comprehensive evaluation including hyperparameter optimization, and (iii) post-learning steps to identify predictive variables. We found that female patients reported higher levels of tinnitus-related distress, depression and response to treatment (RQ1). Female patients indicated higher levels of tension, stress, and psychological coping strategies rates. By contrast, male patients reported higher levels of bodily pain associated with chronic tinnitus whilst judging their overall health as better (RQ2). Variables measuring depression, sleep problems, tinnitus frequency, and loudness were associated with tinnitus-related distress in both genders and indicators of mental health and subjective stress were found to be associated with depression in both genders (RQ3). Our results suggest that gender-associated differences in symptomatology and treatment response profiles suggest clinical and conceptual needs for differential diagnostics, case conceptualization and treatment pathways.
| S-EPMC7261931 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveImproving dementia diagnosis rates are a key feature of dementia strategy and policy worldwide. This study aimed to explore the experience of carers of people diagnosed with dementia during or following a hospital admission in order to identify factors that had prevented them from seeking help beforehand. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 informal carers including adults caring for a parent, a friend or a spouse diagnosed with dementia between 2010-2019, following an acute hospital admission for a physical health problem, having not sought help previously.Main findingsCarers created a 'bubble of normalisation' around themselves and the person living with dementia (PLWD) to reject the label of dementia and protect the PLWD from a loss of independence, discrimination and prejudice they felt would be the result of a diagnosis. Carers struggled to talk to the PLWD about dementia reinforcing denial and stigma. Post-diagnosis carers felt unsupported and questioned the value of diagnosis.Principal conclusionsStigma related to images of dementia as a disease that takes away independence and identity prevented discussion about dementia between carers and the PLWD. A lack of open discussion about memory concerns between health care professionals and carers also served to delay diagnosis.
| S-EPMC9386763 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Studies have found that although there are high rates of depression among university students, their help-seeking practices are poor. It is important to identify students who are less likely to seek the necessary help, to encourage better help-seeking among them. This study, which was conducted among undergraduates in Sri Lanka, examined the associations between personal characteristics of the undergraduates and their intentions to seek help for depression. METHODS:This was a cross-sectional study in which 4461 undergraduates (Male: n = 1358, 30.4%, Female: n = 3099, 69.5%; Mean age = 22.18; SD = 1.47) indicated their intentions to seek help if personally affected by depression, which was described in a hypothetical vignette about a peer experiencing depression symptomatology. The predictors of the undergraduates' help-seeking intentions, including their sociodemographic characteristics, prior exposure to and recognition of the problem, and their stigma towards those with depression were examined using binary logistic regression analyses models. RESULTS:The undergraduates' ability to recognise the problem was one of the strongest predictors of their intentions to seek professional help. Those with higher levels of stigma were less likely to seek both professional and informal help. While females were less likely to consider professional help, they were more likely to consider the help of informal help-providers and to consider religious strategies. Medical undergraduates and those who had sought help for personal experiences of the problem were also more likely to consider informal help. However, all these associations resulted in small effect sizes, except for those between recognition of the problem and the undergraduates' intentions to seek professional help, where medium to very large effect sizes were observed in the case of some the associations examined. CONCLUSIONS:Improvement of problem-recognition may be a key strategy for improving help-seeking among these undergraduates. Reduction of stigma may also be associated with better depression-related help-seeking of undergraduates. Females and medical undergraduates need to be educated about the importance of seeking appropriate types of help, and their informal social networks must be educated about how best to help them.
| S-EPMC5935961 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ContextResidents are expected to ask for help when feeling insufficiently confident or competent to act in patients' best interests. While previous studies focused on the perspective of supervisor-resident relationships in residents' help-seeking decisions, attention for how the workplace environment and, more specifically, other health care team members influence these decisions is limited. Using a sociocultural lens, this study aimed to explore how residents' decision-making processes to seek help are shaped by their workplace environment.MethodsThrough a constructivist grounded theory methodology, we purposively and theoretically sampled 18 residents: 9 juniors (postgraduate year 1/2) and 9 seniors (postgraduate year 5/6) at Amsterdam University Medical Centers. Using semi-structured interviews, participating residents' decision-making processes to seek help during patient care delivery were explored. Data collection and analysis were iterative; themes were identified using constant comparative analysis.ResultsResidents described their help-seeking decision-making processes as an 'act of performance': they considered how asking for help could potentially impact their assessments. They described this act of performance as the product of an internal 'balancing act' with at its core the non-negotiable priority for providing safe and high-quality patient care. With this in mind, residents weighed up demonstrating the ability to work independently, maintaining credibility and becoming an accepted member of the health care team when deciding to seek help. This 'balancing act' was influenced by sociocultural characteristics of the learning environment, residents' relationships with supervisors and the perceived approachability of other health care team members.ConclusionsThis study suggests that sociocultural forces influence residents to experience help-seeking as an act of performance. Especially, a safe learning environment resulting from constructive relationships with supervisors and the approachability of other health care team members lowered the barriers to seek help. Supervisors could address these barriers by having regular conversations with residents about when to seek help.
| S-EPMC8247982 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Help seeking (HS) is a core coping strategy that is directed towards obtaining support, advice, or assistance as means of managing stress. Women have been found to use more HS than men. Neural correlates of sex differences have also been reported in prefrontal-limbic system (PLS) regions that are linked to stress and coping, yet structural differences between men and women relating to HS in the PLS are still unknown. Thus, the association between gray matter volume (GMV) and HS was investigated using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in a large healthy sample (126 men and 156 women). Results indicated women reported more HS than men did. VBM results showed that the relation between HS scores and GMV differed between men and women in regions of the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex extending to the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex(OFC/sgACC). Among women, higher HS scores were associated with smaller GMV in these areas while a positive correlation between GMV and HS scores was observed among men. These results remained significant after controlling for general intelligence, stress, anxiety and depression. Thus, this study suggested that structural differences between men and women are correlated to characteristic brain regions known to be involved in the PLS which is considered critical in stress regulation.
| S-EPMC4099976 | biostudies-other
Project description:Tinnitus is an auditory phantom perception in the ears or head in the absence of a corresponding external stimulus. There is currently no effective treatment available that reliably reduces tinnitus. Educational counseling is a treatment approach that aims to educate patients and inform them about possible coping strategies. For this feasibility study, we implemented educational material and self-help advice in a smartphone app. Participants used the educational smartphone app unsupervised during their daily routine over a period of four months. Comparing the tinnitus outcome measures before and after smartphone-guided treatment, we measured changes in tinnitus-related distress, but not in tinnitus loudness. Improvements on the Tinnitus Severity numeric rating scale reached an effect size of 0.408, while the improvements on the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) were much smaller with an effect size of 0.168. An analysis of user behavior showed that frequent and intensive use of the app is a crucial factor for treatment success: participants that used the app more often and interacted with the app intensively reported a stronger improvement in the tinnitus. Between study allocation and final assessment, 26 of 52 participants dropped out of the study. Reasons for the dropouts and lessons for future studies are discussed in this paper.
| S-EPMC8999555 | biostudies-literature