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Having meaning in life promotes happiness and well-being across the lifespan.A community-based participatory qualitative study was conducted to understand meaning in life, having a voice and the different ways women give back to their community by serving others. Interviews were held with participants (n = 100) who were community residents, people serving women, or both.Participants defined meaning in life as having a sense of significance, a deep connection to their community, and a sense of acknowledgement for their overall contributions. They emphasized the importance of opportunities for women to contribute to something greater than themselves. Participants suggested organizations would be responsive to the needs of women when women have a stronger voice.Women served their community in many roles. However, despite some societal progress, women continue to be underpaid and their contributions undervalued. Rectifying these inequities might contribute to better addressing the needs of women.

Few studies describe how community disadvantage impacts intergenerational relationships. Using interviews with women and service providers (n = 100), we explored benefits and challenges of intergenerational relationships in Flint, Michigan, an economically vulnerable community. Women valued relationships that increased social connections and generativity; however, few community resources promoted such relationships. Intergenerational relationships were important for leaving a social legacy in lieu of a meaningful economic legacy. Some middle-aged women are overwhelmed by caregiving, balancing employment while caring for multiple generations. Women desired intergenerational activities that include children and younger adult women. Further, caregiving programs should attend to the needs of middle-aged caregivers.

Teenage pregnancy can have adverse social and health outcomes, and rates are high in Flint, Michigan as compared to the rest of the state and the USA. It is important to understand contributing factors to adolescent pregnancy to be able to better address this issue. This study examined qualitative data from interviews with 100 community members who participated in the Flint Women's Study, a study designed to better understand the hopes, dreams and needs of women in Flint, and their suggestions for how to address identified needs. Using a Community Based Participatory Approach, data were collected and analysed by a team of community members and academic researchers. The paper focuses on the theme of family planning among young women which included attitudes about contraception, sexuality education and bio-medical and structural barriers to accessing reproductive health. Community members emphasised the need for increased access to comprehensive contraception options, improved sexuality education in schools and from health care providers, and ultimately valuing young women.

This community-academic-pharmacy partnership evaluated the impact of a pharmacist-led approach to diabetes management in under-resourced charitable pharmacy patients. Charitable pharmacies serve a large volume of under-resourced patients; pharmacist involvement may improve blood glucose management due to the frequency with which patients access the pharmacy for medications. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a pharmacist-led approach to diabetes management (measured by blood glucose levels) by providing medication therapy management (MTM) and leveraging communication between the pharmacist and patients’ primary care providers (PCPs). Study participants were Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) patients with type 2 diabetes who obtained free diabetes-related medications from the pharmacy. Participants were randomly assigned to treatment as usual (TAU), MTM, or MTM plus coordinated care between the pharmacist and the patient’s PCP. The blood glucose levels of patients who received MTM remained stable throughout the duration of the study while blood glucose levels for TAU patients significantly increased. A previously non-existent communication channel between pharmacists and FQHC providers was established and recommendations were exchanged. This relatively small investment on behalf of the pharmacy (e.g., routinely checking blood glucose, sharing medication recommendations) led to a return on health outcomes for a high-risk, low-resource patient population. This study yielded a beneficial change in practice as the pharmacy has institutionalized measuring at-risk patients’ blood glucose levels during pharmacy visits. The pharmacy has also continued to enhance their relationship with the FQHC to provide integrated, patient-centered care to this shared vulnerable patient population.

Background Equitable access to services that promote health and wellbeing is an important component of social justice. A community-engaged participatory qualitative study was conducted in Flint, Michigan, USA, to understand the needs of special populations (young women, perinatal women and new mothers, older women, women with disabilities, and LGBTQIA women) and elicit their ideas about solutions. Methods In-depth interviews (n = 100) were conducted. Participants were either women living in the Flint area, human service providers in the area, or both. A team of community and academic coders analyzed the data using an a priori framework. Results Participants identified needs of different groups of women and suggested ways to address them. Access to healthy food, reducing healthcare costs, and improving transportation, job opportunities and affordable quality housing were crosscutting themes across all groups of women. Mentoring support was said to protect vulnerable young women from the risk of human trafficking. Older women were said to gain a sense of purpose, build their social support and reduce their loneliness by engaging in mentoring younger women. Women with disabilities were reported to benefit from infrastructure accessibility and authentic inclusion in all areas of life. Providing help that considers their dignity, pride and self-worth were suggested. LGBTQIA women were reported to have housing needs due to discrimination; mostly turned down as renters and can be rejected from faith-based homeless shelters. LGBTQIA women would also benefit from increased sensitivity among healthcare providers. For all groups of women, streamlining access to social services and other resources, building social support networks and increasing awareness about existing resources were recommended. Conclusion Efforts directed towards improving women’s health and wellbeing should include perspectives and suggestions of diverse groups of women from the community. Acting on suggestions that emanate from the community’s lived experiences may reduce inequalities in health and wellbeing.

This study explored the impact of social support on suicidal ideation in 169 prisoners with major depressive disorder, accounting for known demographic, criminological, and clinical risk factors. Greater social support was associated with a lower likelihood of the presence of current suicide ideation. This effect remained significant even after adjusting for other significant predictors of suicide ideation including sex, length of sentence served, severity of current depression, and having prior suicide attempts. This study is the first to explore social support and other known risk factors for suicide ideation in a prison population with major depressive disorder. Our findings demonstrate that, even in the presence of significant risk factors for suicidal ideation, social support remained a strong predictor, suggesting the importance of fostering social support in correctional settings.

OBJECTIVE: Incarcerated individuals have high rates of trauma exposure. IPT reduces posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in non-incarcerated adults, but has not been examined in prison populations. Moreover, little is known about the mechanisms through which IPT reduces PTSD symptoms. The current study investigated the direct and indirect effects of IPT on PTSD symptoms. We hypothesized that IPT would decrease PTSD symptoms by enhancing social support and decreasing loneliness (theorized IPT mechanisms). METHOD: A sub-sample of trauma-exposed participants (n = 168) were drawn from a larger randomized trial (n = 181) of IPT for major depressive disorder among prisoners. We examined a series of mediation models using non-parametric bootstrapping procedures to evaluate the indirect effect of IPT on PTSD symptoms. RESULTS: Contrary to hypotheses, the relation between IPT and PTSD symptoms was significantly mediated through improvements in hopelessness and depressive symptoms (mechanisms of cognitive behavioral interventions), rather than through social support and loneliness. Increased social support and decreased loneliness were associated with decreased PTSD symptoms, but IPT did not predict changes in social support or loneliness. CONCLUSIONS: IPT may reduce PTSD symptoms in depressed prisoners by reducing hopelessness and depression. (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT01685294)

This article describes a mixed methods evaluation of implementation of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) in the first fully-powered trial of any treatment for major depressive disorder in an incarcerated population. Assessments in this Hybrid Type I trial included surveys of prison providers and administrators (n = 71), measures of feasibility and acceptability to prison patients (n = 90), and a planned document review (n = 460) to assess potential determinants of implementation. Quantitative and qualitative results indicated that IPT was a good fit for prisoners, and that prisoners and providers were enthusiastic about IPT. Providers were open to feedback, open to learning evidence-based practices, and committed to helping their clients. Limited treatment staff and variable supervision and collegial support may pose implementation challenges. For widespread prison implementation, scalable models for ongoing IPT training and supervision are needed.

Cyber psychological abuse and social media surveillance of ex-partners are relatively common virtual forms of behavior linked with intimate partner violence (Pineda, Galán, Martínez-Martínez, Campagne, & Piqueras, 2021) as well as on-going and dangerous intimate partner stalking (Logan & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2021). While both forms of behavior are concerning, especially after the dissolution of a romantic relationship, transdiagnostic shared and unique predictors of each are relatively unknown. In the current study, we examined the associations between intolerance of uncertainty and emotion dysregulation and the perpetration of post-breakup cyber psychological abuse and social media surveillance. We asked college students (n = 284) to report on their intolerance of uncertainty, emotion dysregulation difficulties (particularly difficulties engaging in goal directed behavior, impulse control difficulties, and lack of emotional clarity), and behaviors towards their ex-partner associated with the perpetration of cyber psychological abuse and social media surveillance. Participants reported engaging in an average of 2.4 (SD = 2.17) post-breakup behaviors associated with cyber psychological abuse and 4.47 (SD = 3.60) different acts of social media surveillance. Mediation models supported the premise that intolerance of uncertainty is predictive of emotion dysregulation, which, in turn, mediated the association between intolerance of uncertainty and both cyber psychological abuse and social media surveillance. Subscale analyses specifically highlighted difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior as an important mediator of both behaviors. Taken together, this suggests that intolerance of uncertainty and poor emotion regulation after a relationship breakup are potential drivers of unhealthy ex-partner focused behaviors on social media and other electronic mediums of communication.

The present study, which included four focus groups of women ( n = 21) in four New England prisons, aimed to understand how power impacted women’s relationships, exposure to violence, and health. Women described power in three ways: (a) power as control over their sexuality and their sexual partners, (b) power emerging from emotional strength, and (c) power referring to a process of empowerment. Women’s perceptions and experiences of power were informed by their trauma histories and influenced their sexual behavior and health. Our findings provide a framework for considering incarcerated women’s experiences of power in trauma-informed interventions for this marginalized population.

Background Alcohol use disorder (AUD) constitutes a major public health problem and is associated with a substantial amount of disability and premature death worldwide. Several treatment and self-help options including Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings are available. Nevertheless, factors associated with AA affiliation in some disadvantaged groups such as justice-involved women are not well understood. The purpose of this study is to report on previously unexamined correlates of past year AA affiliation among women in pretrial jail detention. Methods The current study used cross-sectional data from 168 women with DSM-5 diagnosis of AUD in pretrial jail detention. The study examined factors related to women’s concept of self and others (i.e., disbelief that others are trustworthy, lack of autonomy to choose who they interact with, experience of violent victimization, low investment in self-care, higher stress levels, and homelessness) as correlates of past-year AA affiliation, controlling for severity of AUD and demographic factors. Results Women who believe that others are inherently trustworthy, women who met less AUD criteria, and women who are older reported more past-year AA affiliation in both univariate and multivariate analyses. Conclusion Introducing AA outreach and alternative interventions for younger, less severely addicted women might improve AUD outcomes. Moreover, designing more individualized treatment plan for women who believe others are not trust worthy might help AUD treatment engagement in this population. Trial registration NCT01970293, 10/28/2013. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12905-018-0614-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Teagasc Deposited by bulk import

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Teagasc Deposited by bulk import

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Teagasc Deposited by bulk import

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Teagasc Deposited by bulk import

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Teagasc Deposited by bulk import