Measuring mental health action competencies in school teachers: internal and external validity evidence.

Introduction: Mental health literacy is receiving increasing research attention due to growing concerns for mental health globally. Among children, teachers have recently been recognized as playing a vital role in the recognition and reporting of potential mental health issues. Methods: A nationally sampled cross-section of teachers was surveyed to examine the discriminant validity of the mental health literacy measure across levels of teaching. A survey collected a total of n = 369 teacher responses in Switzerland (Kindergarten = 76, Primary = 210, Secondary = 83). Item response theory (IRT) analyses were conducted. Results: Inspection of psychometric properties indicated removal of two weak performing items. The 15-item measure exhibited a significant mean difference, such that class-responsibility function scored higher (M = 2.86, SD = .45) than non-responsible function (M = 2.68, SD = .45) teachers [t(309) = -2.20, p = .01]. It also exhibited a significant mean difference, such that more subjective experienced scored higher (M = 2.86, SD = .45) than less subjective experienced (M = 2.68, SD = .45) teachers [t(210) = -8.66, p < .01]. Discussion: Hypotheses regarding age and role tenure were in the expected direction, but non-significant. The MHL measure for teachers demonstrated sound measurement properties supporting usage across teaching levels.

Young people's media use and adherence to preventive measures in the "infodemic": Is it masked by political ideology?

BACKGROUND: Navigating in the COVID-19 "infodemic" and adhering to preventive measures is especially challenging for young people. The use of information sources and political ideology are empirically important factors for adherence behavior. How these two are interconnected and if political ideology on its own contributes to adherence is not yet well established in young people. OBJECTIVE: This study investigates what role political ideology and political extremism, use of information sources, trust and risk perception play for adhering to preventive measures in young people. METHODS: Cross-sectional online survey in a representative random sample of young people aged 15-34 in two German-speaking and one Italian-speaking canton of Switzerland. The hypotheses were tested with logistic regression and multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS: The odds for using the following information sources decreases for young people positioning themselves towards the right pole of the ideology scale: health-based sources 0.90 (CI: 0.84-0.97), news sources 0.93 (CI 0.87-0.997) and other websites 0.83 (CI: 0.75-0.92). In contrast, the odds of using broadcasting sources increases for young people positioning themselves towards the right pole of the ideology scale (OR: 1.08, CI 1.01-1.15). The odds of using social media decreases with higher political extremism (OR 0.88, CI 0.78-0.99). Political extremism was related with lower adherence to preventive measures in young people with low trust in the government, scientists, and journalists. CONCLUSION: Young peoples' use of information sources is associated with their political ideology and political extremism needs to be taken in account in conjunction with low trust.

Tick-Talk: Parental online discourse about TBE vaccination.

This study aimed to understand parental discourse about vaccination, and to provide guidance for communication that addresses the needs of parents. We analyzed parental discourse on child vaccination in general and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) specifically in a Swiss parental online community. For this purpose, a data set containing 105k posts written by parents between 2007 and 2019 was analyzed using a combination of linguistic discourse analysis and qualitative content analysis. Results show that parents enter into a multidimensional decision-making process, characterized by elaborate practices of negotiation, consideration of vaccination recommendations as well as six distinct influencing thematic factors (vaccination safety, development and control, effectiveness, epidemiology, necessity, alternatives or additional prevention methods). The study shows a clear pattern of seasonality, with parents talking about TBE vaccination mostly triggered by events such as tick bites in spring and summer. From a public health perspective, the study emphasizes the need for sufficient, balanced, and tailored information about TBE vaccination. Online forums provide valuable information about what matters to parents and when, which can help public health authorities and practitioners provide information according to these concerns and enhance health literacy among parents.

Parents' health information seeking behaviour - does the child's health status play a role?

BACKGROUND: Digital media are increasingly abundant providing a wide scope of health information. To date, very little is known about parental health information seeking behaviour for child health outside of English-speaking and Nordic countries. Our study "Digital parental counsellors" examines how parents search for health information in digital media, print media and among "personal contacts", distinguishing between the search for information about general child health and development and child's acute illness, and comparing information seeking behaviour by disability status of the child. METHODS: The population-based sample consisted of 769 parents with children aged 0-2 in the German-speaking region of Switzerland returning the study questionnaire (30% response rate). We developed a frequency score of use of different information sources and conducted bivariate and multivariate linear regression analyses to describe parental search behaviour and the association with child's disability status. RESULTS: The sample consists of 88% mothers (mean age: 35.7 years SD 4.33). Children's mean age is 16 months (SD 7.1), 49% of the children are female and 6% have a disability. Parents use digital media significantly more frequently to search for information about general health and development questions than about an acute child's illness (p < 0.001). In case of acute child's illness, parents refer to their paediatrician, family members and other personal contacts significantly more frequently than other information sources (p < 0.001). The use of digital media and "personal contacts" does not significantly vary between parents with and without a disabled child, whereas the use of print media does (p < 0.02). Moreover, irrespective of disability, 45% of parents resort to the Internet prior to a paediatric visit and 27% after a visit when a visit did not answer all questions. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the high prevalence of digital media, personal contacts are still the most frequent health information resource for parents with young children, irrespective of the child's health. Parents combine all information resources (online, print, personal network) to improve their understanding or check the validity of information received regarding their child's health. It is thus of utmost importance, that the increasingly accessed digital information parents search for is correct, understandable and addresses parent's concerns. TRIAL REGISTRATION: BASEC Req-2017-00817 (30 October 2017).

[The construction of professional images of healthcare assistants and registered nurses]. / Die Konstruktion von Berufsbildern bei Fachfrauen/-männern Gesundheit und dipl. Pflegefachpersonen.

BACKGROUND: In the field of nursing in Switzerland, educations have experienced a fundamental reorganization with the implementation of the new law on Vocational and Professional Education and Training (2004). Among other things, this change affects professional images. PURPOSE: To show how the different professional images in the field of nursing are being constructed in the descriptions of professions by graduates after the reshaping of the educations and the occupational field in general. METHODS: In 110 semi-structured interviews, healthcare assistants and registered nurses (college diploma and Bachelor of Science) in their early careers were asked to explain their professional image. The participant's answers were analysed based on a qualitative content analysis and considering the theoretical background of Berger and Luckmann (1977). RESULTS: The interviews show that professional images emerge on the interaction of societal attributes and individual processes of adoption and revision. Graduates are challenged to adjust stereotypes and to achieve a balance between their own professional image and a missing or inappropriately perceived societal image. CONCLUSION: There should be further emphasis on the differentiation between the professions and the different educations in the field of nursing in order to achieve a better public perception of the different professions.