Contamination and infection: What the coronavirus pandemic could reveal about the evolutionary origins of obsessive-compulsive disorder

This letter discusses how the coronavirus pandemic reveal about the evolutionary origins of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The global outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has had a far-reaching impact on the mental health of people across the world. Of particular interest was the report in your journal about the potential of this outbreak to cause an exacerbation of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms in vulnerable patients. While this concern is timely and of clinical significance, it also invites a response from a complementary perspective, many of the behaviors that have been observed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic resemble the compulsive acts of patients with OCD. Phenomenological approaches to OCD suggest that it is not a unitary disorder. Instead, at least four distinct dimensions can be identified across large samples of patients: (a) fear of contamination and cleaning / washing compulsions;(b) obsessive thoughts of a repugnant or taboo nature and checking compulsions;(c) obsessions and compulsions related to symmetry and arrangement;and (d) hoarding. Moreover, there appear to be distinct neurobiological, genetic and comorbidity profiles associated with each dimension. There may be close links between some dimensions of OCD and behaviors that evolved to protect our ancestors from infectious disease, and which continue to do so now in a modified form. Disease outbreaks such as the COVID-19 crisis are, in a sense, "experiments of nature" that allow researchers to investigate such links further. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

A Meta-Analytic Framework for Developing Protocols to Attend Child and Adolescent Victims of Sexual Violence

Violence against children and adolescents is a global public health problem. In Brazil, there are challenging boundaries for professionals in the protection network in general and for health professionals in particular. Moreover, among other factors, there is the challenge of referral, due to weaknesses in decision making, given the nature of sexual violence and how it is managed by healthcare services. This study aims to propose a Meta-Analytic framework to support the referral of young victims of sexual violence, considering levels of severity, independent of factors such as how protection systems are structured and managed and the local laws in force. We propose a Meta-Analytic approach, developed using the fundamentals of Delphi and DPSIR (Drivers, Pressures, State, Impact, and Response Model of Intervention), from the perspective of Value-Focused Thinking. The Delphi method was structured in two stages: the first stage aimed to identify and classify typical cases of sexual violence;the second stage used the DPSIR model, with the aim of identifying the decision criteria for typical cases that occur in a given municipality. The main outcomes are: (i) the application of the modified Delphi participatory method within the context of local social policies;(ii) the construction of a value tree based on Value-Focused Thinking;and (iii) the identification and systematization of criteria that most interfere with the evaluation of cases of sexual violence, which can be used for multi-criteria decision making.

SOUTH AFRICAN TRADITIONAL HEALERS PERCEPTIONS OF HOMOSEXUALITY

This qualitative study on traditional healers' perceptions of homosexuality has contributed to indigenous knowledge in the Northern Sotho ethnic group in South Africa. An exploratory research design using snowball sampling was employed. The study was underpinned by Afrocentric theory. The sample consisted of ten traditional healers, seven females and three males. Data was collected using individual, face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data which yielded several major themes and sub-themes: Theme 1: Homosexuality threatens family structure and values, sub-theme 1.1 Homosexuality and thepreservation offamily bloodlines and/or surname, sub-theme 1.2 Homosexuality and procreation. Theme 2: Homosexuality is regarded as taboo and a disgrace, sub-theme 2.1: Homosexuality and Northern Sotho culture, sub-theme 2.2 Homosexuality is un-Godly. Theme 3: Homosexuality and western culture, sub-theme 3.1 Homosexuality and modernisation, sub-theme 3.2 Homosexuality and responsibility. The research discovered that the traditional healers had negative views towards homosexuality and offered traditional explanations for this. However, one of the healers said they would help homosexuals who approached them. A recommendation for future research is to find out perceptions of the homosexual community in terms of how they are treated by traditional healers.

A BLOODY SHAME: THE JOURNAL OF THE HEALTH VISITORS' ASSOCIATION

'I do think pads should be free because it's a natural thing--every girl will end up having her period at some point in their life and not everyone can afford 'em.' That's the view of Sophie, 14, from Hull. She is not alone in this perception. More than a third of UK girls and young women aged 14 to 21 have struggled to afford period products since the pandemic began, up from one in 10 pre-pandemic. Among those who can afford products, almost a quarter struggled to get hold of them, mostly because of shortages in the shops. 'Periods don't stop in a pandemic,' says Rachel Grocott, director of communications and public fundraising at Bloody Good Period (BGP). BGP focuses mostly on asylum seekers and refugees, but at one point during the pandemic it was supplying period products to NHS hospitals because staff were struggling to find supplies in the shops after working long shifts.