Mental health outcomes of physical, sexual, and psychological intimate partner violence among women in Turkey: A latent class study.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a severe human right violation and a significant public health problem in Turkey. However, its complexity and stratified relationship with mental health problems are still uncovered in this under researched community, as violence is often approached as a uniform health and social problem. In this study, we collected data from 539 female adults in heterosexual relationships in Turkey using convenience and snowball sampling. The aim was to examine violence-related clusters and their association of these clusters with mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, and depression). We assessed whether participants experienced physical, sexual, and psychological violence in their intimate relationships and conducted a latent class analysis. We obtained five violence clusters: (1) no or low violence, (2) high psychological violence, (3) jealous control with physical violence, (4) moderate sexual and psychological violence, and (5) severe physical, sexual, and psychological violence. Analyses of variance showed that women who experienced multiple forms of IPV reported stronger depression, anxiety, and somatization compared with women in the no or low violence class. Additionally, they reported greater depression and anxiety compared with women who experienced only high psychological IPV. However, psychological violence amplified somatization as much as physical and sexual violence.

Changes in optic nerve head and macula optical coherence tomography angiography parameters before and after trabeculectomy.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of lowering intraocular pressure (IOP) on foveal avascular zone (FAZ), peripapillary and macular vessel density (VD) by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in patients with open angle glaucoma after trabeculectomy. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective study METHODS: Twenty eyes of 20 patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) or exfoliation glaucoma (EG) who were followed up to six months and underwent trabeculectomy were included in our study. OCTA, AngioVue (Optovue Inc.) software was used to analyse the FAZ, peripapillary VD, macular superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) VD. The parameters of the preoperative and postoperative controls were compared statistically. RESULTS: Twelve of the patients (60%) had POAG and eight (40%) had EG. Mean IOP measured was 22.4±2.4 mmHg preoperatively and 14.9±2.4 mmHg in the postoperative sixth month (p <0.001). There were no significant changes in OCTA optic disc and macular SCP VD values at the end of the sixth month. In macular DCP parameters; whole image VD (WI-VD), foveal VD (F-VD), parafoveal VD (PAF-VD) and perifoveal VD (PEF-VD) values increased statistically (p=0.003; p=0.026; p=0.006; p=0.004). There was a statistically significant decrease in FAZ area (FAZ-A) and FAZ perimeter (FAZ-P); and a significant increase was found in foveal density values (FD) (p=0.026; p=0.049; p=0.005). CONCLUSIONS: We found that reducing IOP by trabeculectomy did not affect the microcirculation of the peripapillary region and macular SCP, while there was a significant increase in the DCP parameters of the macular region.

"I am Learning to Protect Myself with Mika:" A Teacher-based Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program in Turkey.

This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a teacher-based child sexual abuse prevention program entitled "I am learning to protect myself with Mika." The sample consisted of 290 children, their parents, and their classroom teachers. The participants were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 137) or wait-list comparison groups (n = 153) by classroom. The age of the children ranged from 46 to 71 months (M = 58.99, SD = 6.64). The prevention program was a 5-week program that consisted of five modules, including emotional awareness, good touch-bad touch, and body safety rules. To investigate the effectiveness of the prevention program, a latent Markov analysis was conducted. A three-class solution was identified as the best model: Status-1 (self-protecting group), Status-2 (risky secret keepers), and Status-3 (risk group). Following the intervention, members of the two at-risk groups (Statuses 2 and 3) were more likely to move into the Status-1 group than were those participants who had not received the intervention (wait-list comparison). Self-protection skills were analyzed using a 2 × 2 ANOVA with repeated measures. The increase in self-protection skills was greater for participants in the intervention group than for those in the wait-list comparison group from pre-test to post-test. Two-month follow-up analysis showed that gain in knowledge and skills was maintained. This program should be considered as a potential approach to meeting the need for child sexual abuse preventive efforts in Turkish preschool curriculum.

Turkish Version of the Traumatic Grief Inventory-Self Report (TGI-SR): Validity and reliability.

This study aimed to adapt the Traumatic Grief Inventory-Self Report (TGI-SR) to Turkish in a sample of 403 bereaved individuals. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicated a correlated two-factor structure for the 18-item version. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .94 for the entire scale. Correlation analysis indicated that the TGI-SR was positively correlated with grief-related symptoms. To test discriminant validity, Latent Profile Analysis was performed, and profiles significantly differed from each other in terms of the impact of event, depression, anxiety, and stress levels. Findings showed that the Turkish version of the TGI-SR is a valid and reliable tool.

[The Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire: Adaptation of Its Short Forms to the Turkish and Examination of Their Psychometric Properties]. / Obsesif Inançlar Anketi: Kisa Formlarin Türkçeye Uyarlanmasi ve Psikometrik Özelliklerinin Incelenmesi.

OBJECTIVE: The Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire (OBQ) is a frequently used instrument in relevant literature for assessment of cognitive biases that play critical roles in appraisal of intrusive experiences in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The questionnaire was initially designed as a 44-item questionnaire, then was shortened to 20 items and lastly was brought down to 9-items. Since so far, only the 44-item version has been available in Turkey, this study aimed to examine psychometric properties of the two shortened OBQ forms in a community sample. METHOD: The study included the data sets of two adult groups on the OBQ and the psychometric tools completed on the OCD symptoms, self-ambivalence and thought action fusion. RESULTS: Results of the explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the Turkish language versions of the OBQ-20 and OBQ-9 had acceptable internal consistency coefficients, similar factor structures to the original studies on the questionnaire, and that, on the bases of the extra modeling tests, the total and the subdimensional scores of both questionnaires were usable for OCD assessments. Moreover as expected, there were significant correlations among these biases, OCD symptoms, self-ambivalence and thought-action fusion.

Turkish Adaptation of the Positive-Negative Relationship Quality (PN-RQ) Scale: A Reliability and Validity Study.

BACKGROUND: The present study investigates the reliability and validity of the Positive-Negative Relationship Quality (PN-RQ) scale in Turkey. This study aims to test different factorial models including orthogonal factors model, correlated factors model, one-factor model, and bifactor model. METHODS: In order to determine the validity and reliability of the scale, two studies were performed. The first was carried out with emerging adults (university students) who were in a romantic relationship (148 females, 43 males, and 2 unknown) and had the main purpose to examine the structure validity of the measurement tool in the Turkish sample with an exploratory analysis. Study 2 was performed online with 513 married adults (359 females, 149 males, and 5 unknown); confirmatory findings and criterion validity studies were added. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analyses revealed that relationship quality had a two-factor structure and that there was also a negative relationship between the factors. Confirmatory factor analyses on the married sample showed that the bi-factor model provided evidence for the multidimensional nature of the scale. Both studies demonstrated high internal consistency. CONCLUSION: There is evidence for reliability and validity in the Turkish version of the PN-RQ scale to measure both positive and negative aspects of the relationship. The PN-RQ scale will be highly functional for social and clinical psychologists who work on close relationship issues in Turkey.

Prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury and distinct groups of self-injurers in a community sample of adolescents.

PURPOSE: Adolescence is an important developmental period for the first onset of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), a behavior known to be associated with elevated suicide risk. Little is currently known, however, about NSSI among adolescents. The primary objectives of this research were to establish the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in a representative sample of Turkish high school students and to identify and describe distinct subgroups of self-injurers. METHODS: A total of 1656 of 1676 eligible students (98.8 % participation rate) from 18 schools were surveyed during the 2010-2011 academic year. Questionnaires were administered that assessed prior engagement in a variety of self-injurious behaviors, current psychiatric symptoms, suicide-related risk factors, and participation in health-risk behaviors. Latent class analysis (LCA) methods were used to identify distinct groups of self-injurers. RESULTS: Almost one-third of the sample (N = 519) endorsed some previous engagement in NSSI behaviors. In LCA analyses restricted to youth with prior histories of NSSI, four distinct classes were identified characterized by: (1) low rates of NSSI behaviors (29 %); (2) high rates of self-battery (32 %); (3) high rates of self-cutting (19 %); and (4) high rates of multiple NSSI behaviors (19 %). These classes were further distinguished by current psychiatric symptoms, suicide risk factors, and other health-risk behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from the present study indicate that NSSI is a common form of behavior among adolescent youth. There is, however, considerable heterogeneity among those with NSSI histories, with about 40 % at particularly high risk for ongoing distress, future acts of intentional self-harm, and suicidal behavior.