Internalizing Symptoms as Mediators of Lifetime Incidence of Trauma and Quality of Life among Out-of-School Youths

OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to investigate the relationships among the lifetime incidence of trauma, internalizing symptoms, and quality of life (QoL) in out-of-school youths (OSYs). METHODS: We recruited 50 OSYs in South Korea. Participants completed the following surveys: completed Lifetime Incidence of Traumatic Events for children, Youth Self Report, and The KIDSCREEN-27 QoL measure for children and adolescents. Mediation analysis was conducted to test the research hypotheses. RESULTS: The mean lifetime incidence of traumatic events among OSYs was 3.27 (standard deviation, 2.41). Internalizing symptoms significantly mediated the lifetime incidence of trauma and QoL. OSYs with fewer internalizing symptoms exhibited a better QoL in the domain of psychological well-being, although their lifetime incidence of trauma was higher. CONCLUSION: The results of current study suggest that assessment and therapeutic intervention with regard to internalizing symptoms are needed to increase the QoL of OSYs.

Psychological Effects on Medical Doctors from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Outbreak : A Comparison of Whether They Worked at the MERS Occurred Hospital or Not, and Whether They Participated in MERS Diagnosis and Treatment / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate psychological effects of an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), a newly emerged infectious disease, on doctors. METHODS: After the MERS outbreak was over, we conducted an online survey of doctors who worked at the hospitals in which exposure to MERS cases had been confirmed or who were directly involved in MERS diagnosis and treatment. The Patient Health Questionnaires-9 (PHQ-9) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) assessment methods were used to assess the severity of depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms among the 64 doctors participating in the survey. RESULTS: The results of the survey indicate that 26.6% (n=17) of participants exhibited depressive symptoms and 7.8% (n=5) had post-traumatic stress symptoms. The doctors employed at hospitals with MERS cases had higher PHQ-9 and IES-R mean scores than those in doctors were not so employed. In contrast, there was no significant difference in those test scores between doctors who participated directly in MERS diagnosis and treatment and those doctors who did not. CONCLUSION: The survey demonstrated that 28.1% (n=18) of doctors involved in MERS care suffered from depressive or posttraumatic stress symptoms, even though the MERS infection was being controlled. Working at a hospital with MERS cases was the primary determinant of the adverse psychological outcomes among doctors ; however, direct participation in the diagnosis and care of MERS patients was not significantly related to such outcomes.