Search

Mental health has been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a matter of concern internationally. In Colombia, specifically, the importance of mental health care, including the phenomenon of suicide, has been highlighted. In this regard, policymakers have sought alternatives to address or mitigate this issue. In this context, research becomes relevant regarding the development of tools that facilitate decision-making for governmental authorities, for example, through the formulation of forecasting models that enable the identification of trends and patterns of behaviour of suicide attempts. The objective of this study is to formulate and select a regional forecasting model for suicide attempts by means of predictive analytics techniques. This paper contributes to fill the gap in the case of suicide attempts in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The fitting, validation and comparison of three different time series models, under minimum forecast error criteria is presented. The compared models include parametric, Holt-Winters and Box-Jenkins approximations; For the analysed data, the parametric model with cubic, seasonal and ARMA(0.5) components is the one with the lowest forecast error. This model manages to capture the trends of the phenomenon, with a low level of error for the projection for nearby trends, but it does not manage to respond to sudden changes in structure such as those that occurred in the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mexico, there is a lack in academic research about bisexual Health-Disease-Attention process. This paper analyzes the main problems about health-disease for bisexual people with a Social Medicine and a Collective Health approach. In order to do this analysis, this paper offers a systematization of research's discoveries related to the Health-Disease-Attention process in bisexual people. Problems on health-disease for bisexual people include worse mental health conditions in comparison to gay and lesbian people. As psychologists have few contextualized knowledge about bisexual health-disease situations, then they cannot adequately respond to bisexual people needs. Bisexual Health-Disease-Attention process is an historical and social product where the lack of visibility and the negative valuation functions as mechanisms to regulate people's sexuality, which can be reproduced in Health-Attention places, such as Mental Health ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN) as a chronic, irreversible complication and having a cardinal symptom that predominates such as pain contributes to causing changes and alterations in the emotional sphere and therefore in the mental health of the patient. The findings in relation to the perception of patients suffering from DPN reported that pain relief is associated with good levels of quality of life, which reduces stress, depression, insomnia and other factors that can threaten mental health. This paper has two fundamental purposes, the first one is to determine the correlation that exists between the prevalence of DPN and the patients who present psychological disorders. This problem is treated with the help of contingency tables and it is statistically processed with Pearson's chi-square coefficient. Secondly, the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) technique is applied to quantitatively evaluate, through the criteria of 3 experts, the possible strategies to be followed by patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing mental health and the dimensions that contribute to its improvement in the general population has been a topic of special interest. This interest has been less in relation to people in situations of homelessness. This paper analyses the role of social support and social relationships in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of the homeless people in the Community of Madrid. The research follows a mixed methodology (questionnaire survey; n=641 and semi-structured in-depth interview; n=18). The results show the high psychological deterioration, the low levels of social support and the relational precariousness of the homeless people. Isolation and deterioration are structured by residential situation, origin, age, and gender. Furthermore, it is found that, as the levels of social support increase, the probability of psychological deterioration decreases. Similarly, after the pandemic, worsening relationships with children are associated with poorer levels of mental health. These findings confirm that relational aspects are key elements in improving the psychological wellbeing of homeless people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wealth of evidence exists that highlights that emotional education can be applied in multiple contexts as a means of promoting better mental health. The present study aims to analyse the importance and utility of working on emotional competencies, especially in the educational environment. Further, the study strives to elaborate practical tools for use during crisis situations as a means of preventing or minimising mental health issues. The present study employs a descriptive design in which a literature review, synthetic analysis and content analysis were performed. The work examines research conducted in connection with organisations and institutions that has emphasised policies targeting emotional education and emotional competencies through proactive and preventive interventions. The present research argues that emotional competencies should be included in initial and in-service teacher training as it has a positive impact on educational quality, mental health and general well-being. A grounded approach is presented that could be followed with children, young people, families and teachers. The present paper concludes by highlighting the importance of developing emotional competencies and promoting projects aimed at effective implementation of emotional education during times of crisis, especially, when considering that many crises are permanent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anxiety is a state of mind of intense worry that can affect students' performance both positively and negatively. Internationally, recent studies show high percentages of students diagnosed with anxiety and depression. This paper seeks to quantitatively analyze how anxiety is related to academic performance in Ecuadorian students. An Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model with school fixed effects estimates an educational production function. The results confirm that, up to certain levels of anxiety, students' scores improve. However, once anxiety levels are elevated -a threshold that is higher for male students-scores are negatively affected. These findings are relevant for two reasons. First, during adolescence, experiences and interpersonal relationships impact personality construction and influence the development of cognitive, non-cognitive and emotional skills. Second, given the current post-pandemic situation, in which anxiety is a frequent scenario. This research concludes that it is necessary to reflect on the importance of rethinking pedagogical processes in schools and to analyze strategies to introduce mental health in the school curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]