Search

OBJECTIVE Previous scholarship has posited that veterinarians experience more anxiety, depression, and compassion fatigue symptoms than the general population. Disclosure of psychological stressors, combined with positive responsiveness, may reduce psychological symptoms. The goal of this study was to test the relationships between disclosure, responsiveness, compassion fatigue, anxiety, and depression. SAMPLE 230 veterinarians from a private Facebook online support group. PROCEDURES Veterinarians from a private Facebook online support group were administered a cross-sectional survey using established scales measuring disclosure, responsiveness, compassion fatigue, anxiety, and depression. All scales reported strong reliability and validity. RESULTS Pearson correlations and mediation models were used to analyze the data. A small, negative, direct relationship between disclosure and depression was found, yet the more interesting results were that responsiveness had a significant, indirect effect on the relationship between disclosure and compassion fatigue, anxiety, and depression. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Disclosure may be related to decreased experiences of compassion fatigue, anxiety, and depression when responsiveness is also present. Veterinarians may benefit from improved mental well-being knowing that there are opportunities to disclose concerns to peers. Additionally, fellow veterinarians can benefit from understanding how to respond to disclosures in a positive, nonstigmatizing manner.

Prior research has found that the prevalence and severity of intimate partner violence (IPV) increase in communities experiencing a disaster. Less studied are the associations between IPV, disaster exposure, and mental health outcomes following disaster events. In the current study, authors examined the prevalence of IPV before and after Hurricane Harvey and the direct and indirect effects of risk (i.e., disaster exposure, IPV) and resilience on mental health outcomes using structural equation modeling with 382 adults. Results indicate that exposure to Hurricane Harvey was significantly associated with risk for IPV, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and depression symptoms. In addition, IPV mediated the relationships between disaster exposure and PTS and depression symptoms. These findings support the need to incorporate IPV services and resources into disaster mental health services.

The purpose of this study is to foster an understanding of the safety, science, and political polarization issues public health officials (PHOs) must navigate in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyzed posts on two social media outlets, Twitter and Reddit, to understand how political polarization impacted sensemaking around COVID-19. Qualitative analysis revealed that sensemaking around COVID-19 encompasses the following narratives: (a) the concept of public health is ambiguous, (b) political polarization causes burnout amongst PHOs, and (c) political polarization influences sensemaking. The conceptualization of politics was explored and the following themes were found: (d) politics can override public health decisions, (e) politics equates to death and other negative outcomes, (f) politics directly relates to the spreading of misinformation and disinformation, and (g) politics is used as a catch-all for sensemaking about issues in the pandemic that were viewed negatively. We then discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Major disruptions to traditional academic learning have occurred since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as most higher education institutions have shifted to online or hybrid course delivery. This virtual shift has significant implications for service-learning. In this study, we explored the impact of virtual service-learning on public relations instructors and community partners. Interview respondents described challenges to virtual service-learning related to the pandemic but also noted unanticipated benefits, such as creativity and resilience. In addition, community partners and public relations instructors recommended a heightened focus on communication, flexibility, and adaptability to ensure successful virtual service-learning experiences for students and organizations.

The pervasive stigmatization of mental health concerns has caused a public health crisis in the United States, as it prevents individuals from seeking treatment for such concerns. Grassroots mental health advocacy groups working to mitigate this stigma and promote treatment largely do so through social media messaging strategies to provide audiences with information, resources, and peer support. Yet, scholars have not fully explicated what constitutes information, resources, or support. Further, little is known about mental health advocacy groups' goals for and perceived effectiveness of these strategies or how audience members understand these messaging strategies. By employing a case study approach with two grassroots mental health advocacy groups, this study provides a nuanced understanding of the strategies involved in providing information, resources, and peer support in social media messaging. This study also demonstrates that both content creators and audience members agree on the importance of linking support strategies - specifically peer support - with information and resources to achieve the organizations' primary goals. Theoretical and practical implications for the strategies used by both organizations are discussed.

Social capital has been identified as one of the ways in which mental health concerns may be mitigated - by ensuring that systems are in place at the micro (cognitive), meso (social interaction), and macro (institutional) levels to support individuals as they seek assistance with and recovery from mental health concerns. One area that deserves further research, however, is how social capital is created communicatively online for these purposes. This study outlines the creation of social capital through interviews with five personal bloggers, analysis of six additional personal blogs with mental health content, and analysis of 878 reader comments to blog posts. Social capital creation is found in three levels, with: (1) coping with mental illness present at the cognitive level, (2) fostering supportive community at the social interaction level, and (3) fighting against stereotypes at the institutional level.

Critical analysis of representations of mental illness in television programming are woefully lacking, due in part to the limited existence of major characters with mental illness in entertainment media. Much of the theoretical work done on the topic has relied upon parasocial relationships the audience may develop with characters with mental illness, and normative determinations of the positive or negative nature of representations of mental illness. Fox Network's show Empire provides an opportunity to examine the representation of mental illness through a major character, Andre Lyon. Through narrative analysis, the author argues that Empire presents a complex and sometimes problematic representation of bipolar disorder. This depiction provides the opportunity to explore the intersectionality of race, class, and gender with the representation of mental illness, and this nuanced view may offer audiences the narrative probability and fidelity needed to guide the ways we understand and interact with...

This chapter discusses the history of anti-stigma communication efforts as it relates to mental health, as well as the importance of discourse itself in defining, controlling, and mitigating mental illness. Anti-stigma health communication campaigns are believed to provide an important function in breaking down what Corrigan constitutes as the stigma to prejudice to discrimination sequence. This sequence, based on the conceptualization of attribution theory developed by Weiner, has been a common approach in researching responses to individuals suffering from a mental health crisis. Patrick W. Corrigan and Sephen P. Hinshaw suggest that there are three main areas in which stigmatizing messages can be resisted: through protest; educational workshops; and personal contact with individuals who have experienced mental health concerns. Mental illness or mental health concerns, according to Donald J. Trump’s discourse, are based on personal shortcomings and responsibility instead of being attributed to biologically based causation or the experience of traumatic events.

In her book, Media Marathoning: Immersions in Morality, Lisa Glebatis Perks states “we are in a new golden age of media engagement” (p. 189), where marathoning media texts—including television show...