Differences in beliefs and attitudes toward Depression and Schizophrenia in Russia and the United States.

BACKGROUND: Cross-cultural studies find that culture shapes people's understanding of mental illnesses, particularly Depression and Schizophrenia. AIMS: To compare individuals' beliefs and attitudes toward Depression and Schizophrenia in Russia and the United States. METHOD: Participants (N=607) were presented with vignettes of two diagnostically unlabeled psychiatric case histories and then answered questions regarding mental health literacy (MHL) and attitudes toward the person and the illness. RESULTS: Our findings indicate that Depression was most often attributed to psychosocial stress while Schizophrenia was thought to be caused by biological factors. People from both countries considered those suffering from Schizophrenia to be unpredictable and dangerous. US participants were more likely to endorse lay and professional help for both disorders than their Russian counterparts. Russian participants reported being less likely to turn to someone they trust and more likely to deal with problems on their own. Russian participants were also more likely to view those with Depression as 'weak-willed' and leading an 'immoral lifestyle'. CONCLUSION: Our findings further inform cultural understandings of these mental illnesses in an often neglected national group. Patterns suggest that both groups may benefit from exposure to corrective information about Depression and Schizophrenia.

Post-concussion symptoms in mild traumatic brain injury: findings from a paediatric outpatient clinic.

Purpose Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is common among children and is associated with a range of symptomatology and clinical presentations. This study uses data from a paediatric outpatient TBI clinic to (1) investigate characteristics associated with more severe post-concussive symptoms and (2) examine differences in the proportion of individuals endorsing specific post-concussion symptoms based on group (e.g., sex, type of injury, and psychiatric history). Methods Data from the Children's Hospital of Richmond's TBI outpatient programme were analysed (N = 157). Results Gender and sports injury were associated with severity of symptoms. In addition, females endorsed a greater number of overall symptoms than males. A number of specific symptoms were found to be endorsed to a greater extent based on psychiatric history and type of injury; however, overall total number of symptoms endorsed did not differ based on these characteristics. Conclusions Findings from this study provide further evidence that mTBI affects a wide range of youth and that associated symptomatology can indeed be varied. Moreover, results revealed differences in endorsement of specific symptoms and symptom severity based on patient and injury characteristics which have implications for concussion assessment and treatment. Implications for Rehabilitation Symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in children and adolescents can have varied presentation, ranging from minimal to severe. Females and those with non-sports-related injuries are more likely to endorse greater symptoms following concussion. Symptom evaluation is an essential component of the concussion assessment and treatment of paediatric patients following mTBI, and clinicians should be aware of patient characteristics associated with increased symptoms, especially when baseline symptom data are not available.

Gender differences in awareness and outcomes during acute traumatic brain injury recovery.

BACKGROUND: Recent literature on traumatic brain injury (TBI), though mixed when reporting outcomes, seems collectively to suggest possible gender advantage for women in postinjury recovery, especially in executive functions. Hormonal neuroprotection, through female reproductive hormones, is often proposed as an underlying factor in these results. We explored potential gender differences in an aspect of executive functions, self-awareness (SA), which is often impaired after TBI, limits patient effort in critical rehabilitation, and increases caregiver burden. METHODS: Within a prospective survey, repeated-measures design, 121 patients with moderate or severe TBI undergoing acute rehabilitation in a Level 1 trauma center, a family member or caregiver informant, and a treating clinician were asked to complete the Patient Competency Rating Scale (PCRS) and the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) at admission and discharge. RESULTS: Although overall, women and men with TBI showed generally similar levels of SA, women had significantly better awareness of their injury-related deficits at acute rehabilitation discharge, even when controlling for age, education, and injury severity. CONCLUSIONS: Mixed findings in this study mirror the pattern of results that dominate the published literature on gender and TBI. Gender differences in executive dysfunction may not be as large or robust as some researchers argue. In addition, complex interplays of socialization, gender-role expectations, naturally occurring male and female ability differences, and differences in access to postinjury rehabilitation are understudied potential moderators.

Factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) in an acute traumatic brain injury population.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) in an acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) population across indices of factor structure, reliability, and validity. METHOD: Data were collected from 101 individuals undergoing acute rehabilitation for moderate and severe TBI both upon emergence from posttraumatic amnesia and at hospital discharge, as well as from their family members or caregivers. RESULTS: Four separate confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) suggested that the FrSBe's three-factor/three-subscale solution did not fit the data well, and follow-up CFAs employing a one-factor structure similarly yielded poor fit indices. Four exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) failed to produce factor solutions consistent with each other or that resembled the factor solution retained in the EFA during the FrSBe's initial construction. The FrSBe had sufficiently high internal consistency at the total-score and subscale-score levels, good convergent validity with other indices of TBI functioning, and good test-retest reliability in the family administration of the measure, but not in the patient administration. CONCLUSIONS: The FrSBe is an appropriate measure for use in an inpatient TBI population when using the total score and the family administration, though its subscales and patient administration warrant more rigorous examination.