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Background: Mental health problems are very common among medical students, becoming a concern for health care professionals and educators. Despite the fact that there is a growing body of literature supporting the role of religiosity and spirituality (RS) on mental health and on positive psychology outcomes, little evidence is available among medical students, a population subjected to important distress. Aims: This study aimed to investigate the role of RS on the levels of optimism, pessimism, and happiness among Brazilian medical students. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study including medical students from the first to the eighth semester of a private medical school. The instruments used were: TOT-R for optimism and pessimism, Lyubomirsk and Lepper subjective happiness scale, and sociodemographic profile. The independent variables were Brazilian Portuguese Duke University Religiosity Scale for religiosity, Brief Spiritual Religious Coping (SRC) for negative and positive SRC; and Facit-Sp for spiritual well-being. Results: A total of 353 medical students were included (response rate 97.51%). Higher levels of intrinsic religiosity and peace were associated with greater happiness and optimism. However, negative SRC was associated with lower levels of happiness and optimism and higher levels of pessimism. Conclusion: Medical students tend to use their RS as a resource for dealing with the challenges of medical school, influencing their happiness and optimism. In this context, it seems that religiousness acts in two different ways, not only have positive but also negative outcomes among the participants.

Background: Longevity increases pose public health challenges, especially in managing falls and their psychological impacts on older adults. Limited evidence exists on the relationship between a fear of falling (FOF), previous falls, and depressive symptoms among community-dwelling older adults. Objective: To evaluate the association between falls, FOF, and depressive symptoms in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study, conducted in 2018, included 400 older adults from a Basic Health Unit in São Paulo, Brazil. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) and the International Falls Efficacy Scale (FES-I) were used, along with self-report questionnaires on fall history. Linear and logistic regression were used to analyze the relationships between variables. Results: The mean age was 75.2 (SD = 8.53) years, with 63.2% being female. Depressive symptoms were observed in 18.3% of the participants, while 90.5% reported a fear of falling (FOF). More than half (63.0%) experienced falls, with 49.5% occurring in the last year. Factors such as the female gender, negative health perceptions, and functional dependence were associated with depressive symptoms. Adjusted analyses indicated that both a fear of falling (FOF) (B = 0.043; p = 0.012) and a history of falls (B = 0.725; p = 0.015) were associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Falls, FOF, and depressive symptoms are interlinked among older adults, underscoring the need for targeted interventions to improve their mental and physical health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Throughout the COVID‐19 pandemic, older Canadians were the most at risk of severe physical harm, including death, and their return to post‐COVID life was expected to be especially anxiety‐provoking. A study was conducted to obtain nationally representative evidence of older Canadians' self‐perceived anxiety levels and their strategies to manage or mitigate it as public health restrictions were lifting. Materials and Methods: This study had a cross‐sectional descriptive design. An e‐survey was used to collect data from 1327 Canadians aged 60+ stratified by age, sex, and education to resemble the larger general population. Participants completed the Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS‐10) and indicated which of the 16 Centre for Addictions and Mental Health's (2022) Coping with Stress and Anxiety strategies they were using to manage or mitigate their anxiety when social distancing was lifting. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis were used to explore the data. Results: While, on average, older Canadians were mildly anxious, nearly one‐quarter of responders rated their anxiety as severe. Age, sex, perceived health, were statistically significant correlates of anxiety. Six coping strategies were associated with significantly lower anxiety scores. Moreover, accepting some fear and anxiety as normal, challenging worries and anxious thoughts, and practising relaxation/meditation appeared to increase anxiety. Conclusion: Older Canadians used multiple strategies to manage or mitigate their anxiety, and seemingly, with more successful than detrimental tries. Practitioners have much to learn and understand about older people's mental health promotion efforts after social distancing, now and for future pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of spiritual care training on medical students' self-reported competencies. Methods: This is a quasi-experimental (controlled and non-randomized) study including 115 Brazilian medical students. Participants were enrolled into 2 groups: fourth-year students (n  = 64) who received spiritual care training and sixth-year students (n  = 51) who did not receive this training – control group (i.e., usual teaching). Participants answered a self-reported Spiritual Care Competence Scale. Comparisons between groups were performed and effect sizes were reported. Results: Providing a spiritual care training resulted in significantly higher self-reported scores for the dimensions of "Assessment" (d  = 0.99), "Improvement of care" (d  = 0.69), "Counseling (d  = 0.88)," "Referral" (d  = 0.75), and "Total Spiritual Care" (d  = 1.044) as compared to the control group. Likewise, 21 out of 27 items of the Spiritual Care Competence Scale were significantly higher for the intervention group, presenting effect sizes (d) ranging between 0.428 and 1.032. Significance of results: Medical students receiving spiritual care training showed greater self-reported competencies as compared to those in the usual teaching. These results reinforce the importance of promoting spirituality teaching in medical schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alcohol and illicit drug use are prevalent among homeless people. Religiosity and spirituality (RS) have been widely associated with lower consumption of substances. However, evidence of this relationship among homeless people is still scarce. Aims: To evaluate the associations between RS and alcohol and illicit drug consumption among homeless people in a large Brazilian urban center. Method: This cross-sectional study was carried out in São Paulo city, Brazil. Aspects such as spirituality (FACIT-Sp12), religiosity (DUREL), spiritual-religious coping (Brief-RCOPE), and self-report questions concerning the current substance use (alcohol and illicit substances) were evaluated. Adjusted logistic regression models were used to assess the impact of RS beliefs on alcohol and illicit drug consumption. Results: A total of 456 homeless people were included, of an average age of 44.5 (SD = 12.6) years. More than half of the participants consumed alcohol (55.7%) weekly and 34.2% used illicit drugs weekly. Adjusted logistic regression models identified that aspects of RS were associated with lower likelihood factors for alcohol and illicit drug use; conversely, negative spiritual religious coping (SRC) strategies were associated with a higher likelihood to use both. Conclusion: The prevalence of alcohol and illicit drug use among participants was high. RS and positive SRC were important protective factors for lower consumption of these substances. Conversely, negative SRC strategies were associated with risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to assess whether having religious beliefs, attending religious services and using spiritual-religious coping (SRC) are longitudinally associated with cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults. A 4-year longitudinal study of 261 Brazilian older adults was conducted. Hierarchical adjusted linear regression models and logistic regression models were performed to evaluate the longitudinal effects of religious beliefs, church attendance and positive and negative SRC on cognitive decline. The findings revealed that spiritual and religious beliefs at baseline could affect cognitive function in two different ways. When older adults use religiosity and spirituality (RS) in a functional positive manner, it results in better cognitive outcomes and a slower rate of decline. However, when used in a negative manner, it results in worse cognitive outcomes. These results could help health care professionals address SRC among older adults, particularly those at a higher risk of cognitive decline. Considering that RS is very important for older adults, health care professionals should be aware of the beliefs of their patients and address RS in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study aimed to examine the symptoms that might play a role in the co-occurrence of 9 DSM-5 symptom criteria of major depression among Brazil's adult population and healthcare professionals after three months of detecting the new coronavirus in Brazil. We estimated regularized Gaussian graphical models for both samples and compared the network structures. Depressed mood was the most central symptom in the general population network compared to the healthcare professional network. The findings revealed some individual symptoms showed a differential association between the general population and healthcare professionals. Those symptoms may be valuable targets for future research and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Management strategies that incorporate spirituality and religiosity (S/R) have been associated with better health status in clinical populations. However, few data are available for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to improve the traditional disease‐model treatment. Aims: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the association between S/R and physical and psychological status in patients with stable COPD. Design: This is a cross‐sectional study. Methods: Religiosity, spiritual well‐being and S/R Coping were measured. Physical status was evaluated with the activity of daily living, dyspnoea and the impact of the disease. Psychological status was assessed with anxiety and depression symptoms and quality of life. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated, multivariate linear regression was applied in the analyses. This study is reported following the STROBE recommendations. Results: Seventy‐two patients with stable COPD (male 58%, aged 68 ± 9 years, forced expiratory volume in 1s (FEV1) of 49.2 ± 19.6% predicted) were included. There was no association between S/R and activity of daily living. However, higher spiritual well‐being and lower Negative S/R Coping was associated with reduced dyspnoea and burden of the disease. Increased S/R and lower Negative S/R Coping was also associated with less anxiety, depression and better quality of life. Multivariate linear regression showed that S/R variables explained the physical and psychological health status in people with stable COPD. Conclusions: Higher spirituality and less negative S/R Coping are associated with reduced dyspnoea, the burden of the disease, anxiety and depression symptoms, and better quality of life in patients with stable COPD. Relevance to clinical practice: Understanding how religiosity and spirituality are associated with physical and psychological features in patients with COPD may contribute to the long‐term management of this patient population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]