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Half to three-fourths of mental disorders appear during adolescence or young adulthood, and the treatment gap is mainly due to lack of knowledge, lack of perceived need, and the stigmatization of mental illness. The aims of this study were to implement and evaluate a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training program among undergraduates. Participants were second-year students from two universities in the French-speaking region of Switzerland (N = 107), who were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 53) or control group (n = 54). The intervention group received a 12-h MHFA course. Online questionnaires were completed before the intervention (T0), and both 3 months (T1) and 12 months (T2) after the intervention in order to evaluate the participants’ mental health knowledge, recognition of schizophrenia, and attitudes and behaviors towards mental illness. We used Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) to examine the effects of intervention over time. After the MHFA course, the intervention group showed significantly increased basic knowledge and confidence helping others with mental illness and reduced stigmatization at both T1 and T2 compared to their baseline scores and compared to control groups. This suggests that the MHFA training program is effective and has significant short-term and long-term impacts, in terms of enhancing basic knowledge about mental health and improving attitudes towards mental illness among undergraduate students.

Most of the studies that examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health have been restricted to pandemic mental health data alone. The aim of the current study was to estimate the pandemic’s effect on young Swiss adults’ mental health by comparing pandemic to pre-pandemic mental health. Longitudinal data of 1175 young Swiss adults who participated in the S-YESMH study in 2018 and were followed-up in 2020 and 2021 were analyzed. The study outcomes were self-reported symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), thoughts about death or self-harm, and risky single-occasion drinking (RSOD). Generalized estimation equations, logistic regression and statistical mediation analysis were used to analyze the data. Evidence was found of increased depression, GAD, and ADHD among young women and increased depression among young men, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Uncertainty about the future predicted young women’s depression and anxiety in 2021. COVID-19 stress in 2021 fully mediated the effect of COVID-19 stress in 2020 on depression and GAD in 2021. Young Swiss women’s and men’s mental health appears to have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the second pandemic year. Uncertainty about the future and stress becoming chronic in 2021 likely explain some of the adverse effects.

This longitudinal, prospective study investigated associations between perceived COVID-19-related stress, coping strategies, and mental health status among adolescents during the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic and one year after the lockdown in Switzerland within a large, national sample. A self-report on-line survey was completed by 553 adolescents (age-range 12–18 years in 2021) in the summers of 2020 and 2021, assessing symptoms of various mental health problems, perceived COVID-19-related stressors, and coping strategies. Overall, participants reported less COVID-19 related stress one year after the lockdown, though mental health status remained stable. ‘Challenges at home or with others’ were significantly associated with mental health problems in both genders, whereas ‘trouble getting medical care or mental health services ‘was associated with mental health problems in girls. Perceived stress and pre-existing psychiatric problem were significantly linked to all mental health outcomes at both time points. Parents’ poor relationships with partners during the lockdown was associated with increased anxiety symptoms in their children. Using cognitive restructuring to cope with stress was associated with less, while negative coping was associated with more anxiety, depression, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms one year post lockdown. Girls appear to have been more affected by the pandemic than boys, with youths with pre-existing psychiatric problems especially vulnerable to its detrimental effects. Healthcare and school professionals should support to identify high-risk adolescents with negative and avoidant coping strategies and train youths to use positive coping strategies.

Objective: To treat patients with psoriasis vulgaris using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), one must stratify patients into subtypes (known as TCM syndromes or Zheng) and apply appropriate TCM treatments to different subtypes. However, no unified symptom-based classification scheme of subtypes (Zheng) exists for psoriasis vulgaris. The present paper aims to classify patients with psoriasis vulgaris into different subtypes via the analysis of clinical TCM symptom and sign data. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in Beijing from 2005-2008, collecting clinical TCM symptom and sign data from 2,764 patients with psoriasis vulgaris. Roughly 108 symptoms and signs were initially analyzed using latent tree analysis, with a selection of the resulting latent variables then used as features to cluster patients into subtypes. Results: The initial latent tree analysis yielded a model with 43 latent variables. The second phase of the analysis divided patients into three subtype groups with clear TCM Zheng connotations: ‘blood deficiency and wind dryness’; ‘blood heat’; and ‘blood stasis’. Conclusions: Via two-phase analysis of clinic symptom and sign data, three different Zheng subtypes were identified for psoriasis vulgaris. Statistical characteristics of the three subtypes are presented. This constitutes an evidence-based solution to the syndrome-differentiation problem that exists with psoriasis vulgaris.

BACKGROUND Previous research has demonstrated a preventive effect of the alcohol policy environment on alcohol consumption. However, little is known about the heterogeneity of this effect. Our aim was to examine the extent of heterogeneity in the relationship between the strictness of alcohol policy environments and heavy drinking and to identify potential moderators of the relationship. METHODS Cross-sectional data from 5986 young Swiss men participating in the cohort study on substance use risk factors (C-SURF) were analysed. The primary outcome was self-reported risky single-occasion drinking in the past 12 months (RSOD, defined as 6 standard drinks or more on a single occasion at least monthly). A previously-used index of alcohol policy environment strictness across Swiss cantons was analysed in conjunction with 21 potential moderator variables. Random forest machine learning captured high-dimensional interaction effects, while individual conditional expectations captured the heterogeneity induced by the interaction effects and identified moderators. RESULTS Predicted subject-specific absolute risk reductions in RSOD risk ranged from 16.8% to - 4.2%, indicating considerable heterogeneity. Sensation seeking and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) were major moderators that reduced the preventive relationship between stricter alcohol policy environments and RSOD risk. They also were associated with the paradoxical observation that some individuals displayed increased RSOD risk in stricter alcohol policy environments. CONCLUSION Whereas stricter alcohol policy environments were associated with reduced average RSOD risk, additionally addressing the risk conveyed by sensation seeking and ASPD would deliver an interlocking prevention mix against young Swiss men's RSOD.