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Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for the five largest contributors to burden of disease in Mexico, with diabetes representing the greatest contributor. However, evidence supporting chronic disease programmes in Mexico is limited, especially in rural communities. Compañeros En Salud (CES) partnered with the Secretariat of Health of Chiapas, Mexico to implement a novel community-based NCD treatment programme. We describe the implementation of this programme and conducted a population-based, retrospective analysis, using a difference-in-differences regression approach to estimate the impact of the programme. Specifically, we examined changes in diabetes and hypertension control rates between 2014 and 2016, comparing CES intervention clinics (n = 9) to care-as-usual at non-CES clinics (n = 806), adjusting for differences in facility-level characteristics. In 2014, the percent of diabetes patients with this condition under control was 36.9% at non-CES facilities, compared with 41.3% at CES facilities (P0.05). For hypertension patients, these figures were 45.2% at non-CES facilities compared with 56.2% at CES facilities (P = 0.02). From 2014 to 2016, the percent of patients with diabetes under control declined by 9.2% at non-CES facilities, while improving by 11.3% at non-CES facilities where the Compañeros En Salud Programa de Enfermedades Crónicas intervention was implemented (P0.001). Among hypertension patients, those with the condition under control increased by 21.5% at non-CES facilities between 2014 and 2016, compared with 16.2% at CES facilities (P0.05). Introduction of the CES model of NCD care was associated with significantly greater improvements in diabetes management between 2014 and 2016, compared with care-as-usual. Hypertension control measures were already greater at CES facilities in 2014, a difference that was maintained through 2016. These findings highlight the successful implementation of a framework for providing NCD care in rural Mexico, where a rapidly increasing NCD disease burden exists.

Individuals with depression show depleted concentrations of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA in occipital (visual) cortex, predicting weakened inhibition within their visual systems. Yet, visual inhibition in depression remains largely unexplored. To fill this gap, we examined the inhibitory process of center-surround suppression (CSS) of visual motion in depressed individuals. Perceptual performance in discriminating the direction of motion was measured as a function of stimulus presentation time and contrast in depressed individuals (n=27) and controls (n=22). CSS was operationalized as the accuracy difference between conditions using large (7.5 degrees) and small (1.5 degrees) grating stimuli. Both depressed and control participants displayed the expected advantage in accuracy for small stimuli at high contrast. A significant interaction emerged between subject group, contrast level and presentation time, indicating that alterations of CSS in depression were modulated by stimulus conditions. At high contrast, depressed individuals showed significantly greater CSS than controls at the 66 msec presentation time (where the effect peaked in both groups). The results’ specificity and dependence on stimulus features such as contrast, size and presentation time suggest that they arise from changes in early visual processing, and are not the results of a generalized deficit or cognitive bias.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Potentially inappropriate opioid prescribing (PIP) may contribute to risk for fatal opioid overdose among older adults (age 50+). Our objective was to examine the effect of age on the likelihood of PIP exposure, as well as the effect of PIP exposure on adverse outcomes. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study SETTING: Data from multiple state agencies in Massachusetts, 2011–2015 PARTICIPANTS: Over 3 million adult Massachusetts residents (3,078,163) who received at least one prescription opioid during the study period; approximately half (1,589,365) were older adults (age 50+). MEASUREMENTS: We measured exposure to five types of PIP: high-dose opioids, co-prescription with benzodiazepines, multiple opioid prescribers, multiple opioid pharmacies, and continuous opioid therapy without a pain diagnosis. We examined three adverse outcomes: non-fatal opioid overdose, fatal opioid overdose, and all-cause mortality. RESULTS: The rate of any PIP exposure increased with age, ranging from 2% among individuals age 18–29 to 14% among those age 50 and older. Older adults also had elevated rates of exposure to two or more different types of PIP, including 5% of adults age 50–69 and 4% of adults age 70 or older, in comparison to 2.5% of age 40–49 and lower percentages in younger age groups. Among covariates assessed, increasing age was the greatest positive predictor of PIP exposure. In analyses stratified by age, exposure to both any PIP and specific types of PIP were associated with non-fatal overdose, fatal overdose, and all-cause mortality among both younger and older adults. CONCLUSION: Older adults are more likely to be exposed to PIP, which elevates their risk for adverse events. Strategies to reduce exposure to PIP, and to improve outcomes among those already exposed, will be instrumental to addressing the opioid crisis as it manifests among older adults.

To measure the benefits to household caregivers of a psychotherapeutic intervention for adolescents and young adults living in a war-affected area.Between July 2012 and July 2013, we carried out a randomized controlled trial of the Youth Readiness Intervention--a cognitive-behavioural intervention for war-affected young people who exhibit depressive and anxiety symptoms and conduct problems--in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Overall, 436 participants aged 15-24 years were randomized to receive the intervention (n = 222) or care as usual (n = 214). Household caregivers for the participants in the intervention arm (n = 101) or control arm (n = 103) were interviewed during a baseline survey and again, if available (n = 155), 12 weeks later in a follow-up survey. We used a burden assessment scale to evaluate the burden of care placed on caregivers in terms of emotional distress and functional impairment. The caregivers' mental health--i.e. internalizing, externalizing and prosocial behaviour--was evaluated using the Oxford Measure of Psychosocial Adjustment. Difference-in-differences multiple regression analyses were used, within an intention-to-treat framework, to estimate the treatment effects.Compared with the caregivers of participants of the control group, the caregivers of participants of the intervention group reported greater reductions in emotional distress (scale difference: 0.252; 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.026-0.4782) and greater improvements in prosocial behaviour (scale difference: 0.249; 95% CI: 0.012-0.486) between the two surveys.A psychotherapeutic intervention for war-affected young people can improve the mental health of their caregivers.Mesurer les avantages pour les aidants familiaux d'une intervention psychothérapeutique destinée aux adolescents et aux jeunes adultes qui vivent dans une région touchée par la guerre.Entre juillet 2012 et juillet 2013, nous avons réalisé à Freetown, en Sierra Leone, un essai contrôlé randomisé de la Youth Readiness Intervention – une intervention cognitivo-comportementale destinée aux jeunes touchés par la guerre qui présentent des symptômes de dépression et d'anxiété ainsi que des troubles du comportement. Au total, 436 participants âgés de 15 à 24 ans ont été sélectionnés de manière aléatoire pour bénéficier soit de l'intervention (Comparés aux aidants familiaux des participants du groupe de contrôle, les aidants familiaux des participants du groupe expérimental ont fait part d'une réduction plus importante de la détresse psychique (différence d'échelle: 0,252; intervalle de confiance, IC, à 95%: 0,026-0,4782) et d'améliorations plus significatives en matière de comportement prosocial (différence d'échelle: 0,249; IC à 95%: 0.012-0.486) entre les deux études.Les interventions psychothérapeutiques destinées aux jeunes touchés par la guerre peuvent améliorer la santé mentale des aidants familiaux.Medir los beneficios para los cuidadores del hogar de una intervención psicoterapéutica para adolescentes y adultos jóvenes que viven en una zona afectada por la guerra.Entre julio de 2012 y julio de 2013, se llevaron a cabo ensayos controlados aleatorizados de la Youth Readiness Intervention (una intervención cognitivo-conductual para jóvenes afectados por la guerra que presentan síntomas de depresión y ansiedad y problemas de conducta) en Freetown, Sierra Leona. En términos generales, 436 participantes de 15 a 24 años fueron aleatorizados para recibir la intervención (En comparación con los cuidadores de los participantes del grupo de control, los cuidadores de los participantes del grupo de intervención registraron una mayor reducción en la angustia emocional (diferencia en la escala: 0,252; intervalo de confianza (IC) del 95%: 0,026–0,4782) y mayores mejoras en el comportamiento prosocial (diferencia en la escala: 0,249 (IC del 95%: 0,012–0,486) entre los dos estudios.Una intervención psicoterapéutica para los jóvenes afectados por la guerra puede mejorar la salud mental de sus cuidadores.قياس الفوائد التي تعود على مقدمي الرعاية في المنزل من خلال التدخل بالعلاج النفسي للمراهقين والشباب الذين يعيشون في منطقة متضررة من الحروب.في الفترة ما بين يوليو من عام 2012 ويوليو من عام 2013، أجرينا تجربة معشاة مضبطة بالشواهد لجاهزية الشباب بالتدخل – وهو تدخل قائم على الإدراك والسلوك للشباب المتأثرين بالحروب والذين يظهرون أعراض الاكتئاب والقلق ويثيرون مشاكل سلوكية - في فريتاون بسيراليون. وبوجه عام، تم اختيار 436 مشاركًا تتراوح أعمارهم من 15 إلى 24 سنة على نحو عشوائي لتلقي التدخل (العدد = 222) أو تلقي الرعاية المعتادة (العدد = 214). وقد أُجريت مقابلات مع مقدمي الرعاية في المنزل للمشاركين في الفرع الخاص بالتدخل (العدد = 101) أو الفرع الخاص بالمجموعة الشاهدة (العدد = 103) خلال مسح خط الأساس ثم تمت إعادة المسح مرة أخرى في حال تواجدهم (العدد = 155)، بعد مرور 12 أسبوعًا خلال مسح المتابعة. استخدمنا مقياس تقدير العبء لتقييم عبء الرعاية الذي وُضع على مقدمي الرعاية من حيث الضائقة الانفعالية والاختلال الوظيفي. وقد تم تقييم الصحة النفسية لمقدمي الرعاية – أي الاستبطان، والاختراج، والسلوك الاجتماعي الإيجابي – باستخدام مقياس أكسفورد للتوافق النفسي. تم استخدام تحاليل متعددة التحوف للاختلافات في الفارق ضمن إطار العمل لقصد العلاج، لتقدير تأثيرات العلاج.بالمقارنة مع مقدمي الرعاية للمشاركين في المجموعة الشاهدة، قام مقدمو الرعاية للمشاركين في مجموعة التدخل بالإبلاغ عن حالات انخفاض أكبر في الضائقة الانفعالية (الفرق في المقياس: 0.252؛ بنسبة أرجحية مقدارها 95%: 0.026–0.4782) وحالات تحسن أكبر في السلوك الاجتماعي الإيجابي (الفرق في المقياس: 0.249؛ بنسبة أرجحية مقدارها 95%: 0.012–0.486) بين المسحين.إن التدخل بالعلاج النفسي للشباب المتأثرين بالحروب يمكنه تحسين الصحة النفسية لمقدمي الرعاية الذين يتولون رعايتهم.旨在衡量家庭看护人从为居住在战争受灾区的青少年和青壮年提供心理治疗干预中获得的好处。.2012 年 7 月至 2013 年 7 月期间，我们针对塞拉利昂弗里敦市内受战争影响的年轻人（其显示出抑郁和焦虑症状并制造问题）展开了一次青年准备干预（即：认知-行为干预）的随机对照试验。总之，我们随机分配 436 位实验者（15-24 岁）接受干预治疗 (两次调查之间，相对于对照组实验者的看护人，干预组实验者看护人报告其抑郁情绪减少的人数更多（比例差异：0.252，95% 置信区间 (CI)：0.026–0.4782），而且其亲社会行为大大增强（比例差异：0.249，95% 置信区间 (CI)：0.012–0.486）。.对受战争影响的年轻人进行心理治疗干预可改善其看护人的心理健康。.Измерить положительное влияние психотерапевтического вмешательства, примененного в лечении подростков и молодых людей, которые проживают в регионах, затронутых войной, на состояние лиц, осуществляющих уход на дому.В период с июля 2012 г. по июль 2013 г. было проведено рандомизированное контролируемое исследование программы психосоциального вмешательства в лечении молодых людей (YRI) — когнитивно-поведенческой терапии пострадавших от войны молодых людей, у которых были выявлены симптомы депрессии и тревожного расстройства и отклонения в поведении; исследование проводилось в г. Фритаун, Сьерра-Леоне. Всего 436 участников в возрасте от 15 до 24 лет были распределены случайным образом либо в группу, в которой применялось вмешательство (По сравнению с лицами, осуществляющими уход за участниками контрольной группы, у лиц, осуществляющих уход за участниками экспериментальной группы, наблюдалось более существенное снижение показателей эмоционального расстройства (разность шкал: 0,252; 95% доверительный интервал, ДИ: 0,026–0,4782) и более существенное улучшение просоциального поведения (разность шкал: 0,249; 95% ДИ: 0,012–0,486) в период между двумя исследованиями.Психотерапевтическое вмешательство в лечении молодых людей, пострадавших от войны, может положительно повлиять на психическое здоровье лиц, осуществляющих уход за ними.

BACKGROUND One billion children live in war-affected regions of the world. We conducted the first cost-effectiveness analysis of an intervention for war-affected youth in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as a broader cost analysis. METHODS The Youth Readiness Intervention (YRI) is a behavioural treatment for reducing functional impairment associated with psychological distress among war-affected young persons. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in Freetown, Sierra Leone, from July 2012 to July 2013. Participants (n = 436, aged 15-24) were randomized to YRI (n = 222) or care as usual (n = 214). Functional impairment was indexed by the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale; scores were converted to quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). An 'ingredients approach' estimated financial and economic costs, assuming a societal perspective. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were also expressed in terms of gains across dimensions of mental health and schooling. Secondary analyses explored whether intervention effects were largest among those worst-off (upper quartile) at baseline. RESULTS Retention at 6-month follow-up was 85% (n = 371). The estimated economic cost of the intervention was $104 per participant. Functional impairment was lower among YRI recipients, compared with controls, following the intervention but not at 6-month follow-up, and yielded an ICER of $7260 per QALY gained. At 8-month follow-up, teachers' interviews indicated that YRI recipients observed higher school enrolment [P

Trauma from witnessing events such as bombings and killings as well as direct victimization or participation in violence has been associated with psychosocial distress and poor mental health among war-exposed children and adolescents. This study examines the relationship between caregiver mental health and child internalizing (anxiety and depression) symptoms over a 4-year period in postconflict Sierra Leone.The sample included 118 adolescent Sierra Leonean youth (73% male; mean age = 16.5 years at Time 1) and their caregivers (40% male; mean age = 39.0 at Time 1). To measure depression and anxiety symptoms, the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 was used with adults and the Oxford Measure of Psychosocial Adjustment - previously validated for use with children and adolescents in the region - was used to assess youth. A multivariate hierarchical linear model (HLM) for studying change within dyads was implemented to study covariation in internalizing symptoms among caregivers and youth over time; these models also included covariates at the individual, family and community levels. The relationship of caregiver mental health to child's internalizing was tested in a latent variable extension of the HLM.The latent variable extension estimated that a one standard deviation (SD) change in caregiver anxiety/depression was associated with a .43 SD change in youth internalizing (p.01) over the 4-year period. Family acceptance was negatively related to youth internalizing (p.001), while community stigma was positively associated (p.001).The findings highlight an important interplay between caregiver and child mental health within the postconflict setting and the need for psychosocial interventions to extend beyond the individual to account for family dynamics.

Face perception plays a foundational role in the social world. This perceptual ability is deficient in schizophrenia. A noise-filtering mechanism is essential for perceptual processing. It remains unclear as to whether a specific noise-filtering mechanism is implicated in the face perception problem or a general noise-filtering mechanism is involved which also mediates non-face visual perception problems associated with this psychiatric disorder. This study examined and compared the effects of external noise on the performance of face discrimination and car discrimination in schizophrenia patients (n=25) and healthy controls (n=27). Superimposing the external visual noise on face or car stimuli elevated perceptual thresholds (i.e. degraded performance levels) for both face and car discrimination. However, the effect of noise was significantly larger on face than on car discrimination, both in patients and controls. This pattern of results suggests specific vulnerability of face processing to noise in healthy individuals and those with schizophrenia.

Three waves of data from a prospective longitudinal study in Sierra Leone were used to examine internalizing trajectories in 529 war-affected youth (ages 10-17 at baseline; 25% female). Latent class growth analyses identified four trajectories: a large majority of youth maintained lower levels of internalizing problems (41.4%) or significantly improved over time (47.6%) despite very limited access to care; but smaller proportions continued to report severe difficulties six years post-war (4.5%) or their symptoms worsened (6.4%). Continued internalizing problems were associated with loss of a caregiver, family abuse and neglect, and community stigma. Despite the comparative resilience of most war-affected youth in the face of extreme adversity, there remains a compelling need for interventions that address family- and community-level stressors.

Schizophrenia is associated with the inability to control and coordinate thoughts, actions, and perceptions. In conventional assessments of cognitive control, multiple sensory features of stimuli are concomitantly manipulated, introducing a confounding role of bottom-up perceptual information. To overcome this difficulty, we used an ambiguous visual stimulus (Necker cube), which allowed measurement of cognitive control with constant sensory input. Subjects (20 patients, 20 controls) were asked to control their perception of a transparent Necker cube by keeping a designated plane at the front or back of the stimulus, the position of which is perceptually bistable. Patients were highly deficient at controlling their perception of the cube. When a visual feature (the luminance contrast between a designated cube plane and the other planes) was systematically manipulated, an interaction was found whereby schizophrenia patients no longer under-performed on the highest contrast condition. These results show patients’ impairment of controlling perception in the absence of visual modulation and suggest the potential utility of perceptually based approaches to cognitive remediation in schizophrenia. (JINS, 2011, 551–556)

Healthy females outperform males on face recognition. Relative to healthy individuals, schizophrenia patients are impaired on face perception tasks. Yet, it is unclear whether the female advantage found in healthy controls is preserved in females with schizophrenia. In the present study, we compared male and female patients and healthy controls on two basic face perception tasks – detection and identity discrimination. In the detection task, subjects located an upright or inverted line-drawn face (or a tree) embedded within a larger line-drawing. In the identity discrimination task, subjects determined which of two side-by-side face images matched an earlier presented face image. Healthy females were significantly more accurate than healthy males on face detection, but not on identity discrimination. However, female patients were not more accurate than male patients on either task. On both upright face detection and face identity discrimination, healthy controls significantly outperformed patients. Patients’ performance on face detection was closely associated with tree detection and IQ scores, as well as level of psychosis. This pattern of results suggests that a female advantage in basic face perception is no longer available in schizophrenia, and that this absence may be related to a generalized deficit factor, which acts to level performance across sexes, and putative changes in sex-related neurobiological differences associated with schizophrenia.

Visual sensitivity decreases with age, and this presumably has an impact on face recognition. However, the relationship between aging in basic visual processing and in the sensory and cognitive mechanisms mediating face recognition is not well understood. Face detection, a foundational step in recognizing faces, relies primarily on sensory information. This study measured the ability to detect facial configuration and contrast detection in young (59 years). Performance on both face detection and contrast detection was moderately degraded in the middle-aged group compared with the young group and was further degraded in elderly adults. Face detection was correlated strongly with contrast sensitivities, but only weakly with verbal IQ. The results suggest that face detection ability begins to reduce in early aging, and is associated with spatiotemporal visual processing. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.

Face recognition involves several physiological and psychological processes, including those in visual, cognitive and affective domains. Studies have found that schizophrenia patients are deficient at recognizing facial emotions, yet visual and cognitive processing of facial information in this population has not been systematically examined. In this study, we examined visual detection, perceptual discrimination and working memory of faces as well as non-face visual objects in patients. Visual detection was measured by the accuracy when detecting the presence of a briefly displayed face, image which contained only the basic configural information of a face. Perceptual discrimination was measured by discriminability scores for individual facial identity images, in which the degree of similarity between images was systematically varied via morphing. Working memory was measured by the discriminability scores when two comparison face images were separated by 3 or 10 seconds. All measurements were acquired using a psychophysical method (two-alternative forced choice). Relative to controls, patients showed significantly reduced accuracy in visual detection of faces (p=0.003), moderately degraded performance in perceptual discrimination of faces (p=0.065), and significantly impaired performance in working memory of faces (p

The way schizophrenia patients perceive the world is largely mysterious. Understanding and appreciating the visual world begins with the perception of basic visual features, which is altered in this mental disorder. Yet, the roles basic visual features play in functional activities such as appreciation of art are unclear. This study examined the effects of visual feature manipulation on beauty perception of art in schizophrenia patients (n=29) and in normal controls (n=30). Three pieces of art - The Starry Night (Van Gogh), Mona Lisa (Da Vinci) and a natural landscape photograph (anonymous) - were manipulated in terms of their coloration (removal of color), spatial frequency content (low or high-frequency pass) and visual noise level (with added noise). Subjects judged the beauty of the original and visual-feature-manipulated artworks by rating each piece individually (1 to 7) and by ranking all pieces from most to least beautiful. For the three original art pieces, averaged ratings and rankings were similar in patients and controls. However, when the visual features of the original pieces were manipulated, changes in the beauty ratings were significantly smaller in patients. The reduced sensitivity to visual feature manipulations suggests that the modulation of basic visual signals, often used for vivid and dynamic expressions in art, may be under-appreciated in schizophrenia.

Background: Partners In Health (PIH) committed to improving health care delivery in Maryland County, Liberia following the Ebola epidemic by employing 71 community health workers (CHWs) to provide treatment support to tuberculosis (TB), HIV and leprosy patients. PIH simultaneously deployed a socioeconomic assistance program with three core components: transportation reimbursement to clinics; food support; and additional social assistance in select cases. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate how a CHW program for community treatment support and addressing socioeconomic barriers to care can impact patient outcomes in a post-conflict and post-epidemic context. Methods: Retrospective observational study utilizing registry data from 513 TB, 447 HIV and 75 leprosy patients at three health facilities in Maryland County, Liberia. Treatment coverage and clinical outcomes for patient cohorts enrolled in the pre-intervention period (January 2015 to June 2015) and the post-intervention period (July 2015 to July 2017) are compared using logistic regression analyses. Results: TB treatment coverage increased from 7.7% pre-intervention to 43.2% (p

HIV/AIDS remains the second most common cause of death in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), and only 34% of eligible patients in Africa received antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2013. This study investigated the impact of ART decentralization on patient enrollment and retention in rural Malawi. We reviewed electronic medical records of patients registered in the Neno District ART program from August 1, 2006, when ART first became available, through December 31, 2013. We used GPS data to calculate patient-level distance to care, and examined number of annual ART visits and one-year lost to follow-up (LTFU) in HIV care. The number of ART patients in Neno increased from 48 to 3,949 over the decentralization period. Mean travel distance decreased from 7.3 km when ART was only available at the district hospital to 4.7 km when ART was decentralized to 12 primary health facilities. For patients who transferred from centralized care to nearer health facilities, mean travel distance decreased from 9.5 km to 4.7 km. Following a transfer, the proportion of patients achieving the clinic’s recommended ≥4 annual visits increased from 89% to 99%. In Cox proportional hazards regression, patients living ≥8 km from a health facility had a greater hazard of being LTFU compared to patients

Objective: Youth in war-affected regions are at risk for poor psychological, social, and educational outcomes. Effective interventions are needed to improve mental health, social behavior, and school functioning. This randomized controlled trial tested the effectiveness of a 10-session cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)–based group mental health intervention for multisymptomatic war-affected youth (aged 15–24 years) in Sierra Leone. Method: Waraffected youth identified by elevated distress and impairment via community screening were randomized (stratified by sex and age) to the Youth Readiness Intervention (YRI) (n ¼ 222) or to a control condition (n ¼ 214). After treatment, youth were again randomized and offered an education subsidy immediately (n ¼ 220) or waitlisted (n ¼ 216). Emotion regulation, psychological distress, prosocial attitudes/behaviors, social support, functional impairment, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were assessed at pre- and postintervention and at 6-month follow-up. For youth in school, enrollment, attendance, and classroom performance were assessed after 8 months. Linear mixed-effects regressions evaluated outcomes. Results: The YRI showed significant postintervention effects on emotion regulation, prosocial attitudes/behaviors, social support, and reduced functional impairment, and significant follow-up effects on school enrollment, school attendance, and classroom behavior. In contrast, education subsidy was associated with better attendance but had no effect on mental health or functioning, school retention, or classroom behavior. Interactions between education subsidy and YRI were not significant. Conclusion: YRI produced acute improvements in mental health and functioning as well as longer-term effects on school engagement and behavior, suggesting potential to prepare war-affected youth for educational and other opportunities. Clinical trial registration information–Trial of the Youth Readiness Intervention (YRI); http://clinicaltrials.gov; NCT01684488 J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2014;53(12):1288–1297. Key Words: youth, intervention, mental health, war-affected, randomized controlled trial

Worldwide, over one billion children and adolescents live in war-affected settings. At present, only limited research has investigated linkages between disrupted social ecology and adverse mental health outcomes among war-affected youth. In this study, we examine three community-level characteristics - social disorder and collective efficacy within the community, as reported by caregivers, and perceived stigma as reported by youth - in relation to externalizing behaviors and internalizing symptoms among male and female former child soldiers in postconflict Sierra Leone.A total of 243 former child soldiers (30% female, mean age at baseline: 16.6 years) and their primary caregivers participated in interviews in 2004 and 2008, as part of a larger prospective cohort study of war-affected youth in Sierra Leone. Two-point growth models were estimated to examine the relationship between community-level characteristics and externalizing and internalizing outcomes across the time points.Both social disorder within the community, reported by caregivers, and perceived stigma, reported by youth, positively covaried with youths' externalizing and internalizing scores - indicating that higher levels of each at baseline and follow-up were associated with higher levels of mental health problems at both time points (p .05). The relationship between collective efficacy and mental health outcomes was nonsignificant (p .05).This study offers a rare glimpse into the role that the postconflict social context plays in shaping the mental health among former child soldiers. Results indicate that both social disorder and perceived stigma within the community demonstrate an important relationship to externalizing and internalizing problems among adolescent ex-combatants. Moreover, these relationships persisted over a 4-year period of follow-up. These results underscore the importance of the postconflict social environment and the need to develop postconflict interventions that address community-level processes in addition to the needs of families and individuals.

BackgroundFormer child soldiers are at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, the trajectory of symptoms has yet to be examined.AimsThe risk and protective factors associated with PTSD symptom change among former child soldiers in Sierra Leone were investigated.MethodData from 243 former child soldiers (mean age 16.6 years, 30% female) were analysed.ResultsSelf-reported rates of possible PTSD using standard cut-off points declined from 32% to 16% 4 years later (PPPPPPConclusionsThe findings indicated improvement in PTSD symptoms among former child soldiers despite limited access to care. Family and community support played a vital part in promoting psychological adjustment.

An important issue for understanding visual perception in autism concerns whether individuals with this neurodevelopmental disorder possess an advantage in processing local visual information, and if so, what is the nature of this advantage. Perception of movement speed is a visual process that relies on computation of local spatiotemporal signals but requires the comparison of information from more than a single spatial location or temporal point. This study examined speed discrimination in adolescents (ages 13–18 years old) with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Compared to healthy controls (n = 17), individuals with ASD (n = 19) showed similarly precise speed discrimination when two comparison motion stimuli (random dot patterns) were presented closely in time (0.5 s). With a longer temporal interval (3 s) between the motion stimuli, individuals with ASD outperformed healthy controls on speed discrimination. On a second task—global motion perception—in which individuals were asked to detect coherent motion, individuals with ASD exhibited slightly degraded performance levels. The observed temporally selective enhancement in speed discrimination indicates that a local processing advantage in autism develops over a longer temporal range and is not limited to the spatial domain. These results suggest a dynamic perceptual mechanism for understanding, and therapeutically addressing, atypical visual processing in this neurodevelopmental disorder.

Schizophrenia patients exhibit perceptual and cognitive deficits, including in visual motion processing. Given that cognitive systems depend upon perceptual inputs, improving patients’ perceptual abilities may be an effective means of cognitive intervention. In healthy people, motion perception can be enhanced through perceptual learning, but it is unknown whether this perceptual plasticity remains in schizophrenia patients. The present study examined the degree to which patients’ performance on visual motion discrimination can be improved, using a perceptual learning procedure. While both schizophrenia patients and healthy controls showed decreased direction discrimination thresholds (improved performance) with training, the magnitude of the improvement was greater in patients (47% improvement) than in controls (21% improvement). Both groups also improved moderately but non-significantly on an untrained task—speed discrimination. The large perceptual training effect in patients on the trained task suggests that perceptual plasticity is robust in schizophrenia and can be applied to develop bottom-up behavioral interventions.

Previous research has identified several key processes of visual perception and visually guided action that are implicated in schizophrenia. Yet, it is not well understood whether similar or different brain mechanisms mediate the abnormalities in these two processes. To explore this issue, we examined visual and visuomotor processing in schizophrenia, utilizing an illusion known as the Roelofs effect. This illusion refers to the spatial mislocalization of an object within an off-centered frame, with the object appearing to be shifted towards the opposite direction of the frame offset. In this study, localization of the object was measured either by a direct visual response or by an immediate or delayed visuomotor (reaching-to-touch) response. Patients demonstrated significantly greater magnitudes of the Roelofs effect in all response modes, indicating the existence of excessive spatial contextual effects of the frame during the processing of visual and visuomotor information, and when the two types of information are integrated over a delayed visuomotor response condition. These results provide evidence for a hypothesis of improper inhibitory control as a common mechanism underpinning abnormal visual and visuomotor processes in this mental disorder.

Females are generally better than males at recognizing facial emotions. However, it is not entirely clear whether and in what way females may also excel at non-affective face recognition. Here, we tested males and females on two perceptual face recognition tasks that involved only neutral expressions: detection and identity discrimination. On face detection (Experiment 1), females were significantly more accurate than males in detecting upright faces. This gender difference was reduced during inverted face detection, and not present during tree detection, suggesting that the magnitude of the gender difference for performance co-varies with the extent to which face processing mechanisms are involved. On facial identity discrimination (Experiment 2), females again outperformed males, particularly when face images were masked by visual noise, or the delay between comparison face images was extended from 0.5 to 3 s. These results reveal a female advantage in processing face-specific information and underscore the role of perceptual factors in socially relevant gender differences.

Background: Visual perception impairments in schizophrenia stem from abnormal information processing. Information processing requires neural response to a stimulus (signal) against a backdrop of 1) random variation in baseline neural activity (internal noise) and sometimes irrelevant environmental stimulation (external noise). Filtering out noise is a critical aspect of information processing, and needs to be critically examined in schizophrenia. Methods: To understand how noise in the visual system constrains perceptual processing, we devised a novel paradigm to build in both signal and external noise on same visual stimulus. Here, instead of uniformed noise, domain-specific noise— variations in stimulus speed—was introduced to evaluate the performance of schizophrenia patients in speed discrimination. Each motion stimulus—a random dot pattern (RDP) comprising 200 moving dots—included a range of speeds, drawn individually from a Gaussian distribution for each dot. The task for patients (n=26) and controls (n=28) was to identify which of two stimuli moved faster based on their mean speeds. Findings: Patients exhibited deficient speed discrimination at baseline, in the absence of speed noise. Their speed discrimination was further degraded in the presence of low and medium levels of external noise. In the presence of a high levels of noise, degradation of patients’ speed discrimination leveled-off, resulting in similar performance to controls. Conclusion: These domain-specific noise effects on speed discrimination provide direct evidence for the existence of heightened internal noise within a specific visual motion processing domain in schizophrenia.