COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy of adolescents with psychiatric disorders and their parents: data from a child psychiatry outpatient clinic.

BACKGROUND: Vaccinating adolescents and determining the factors influencing their vaccination status are critical in the event of a pandemic. One of the factors affecting vaccination is vaccine hesitancy, which is an increasing problem worldwide. Vaccine hesitancy and the vaccination rates of some special groups, such as psychiatric patients and their families, may differ from the general population. The purpose of this study was to identify any vaccine hesitancy to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination in adolescents evaluated in a child psychiatry outpatient clinic, as well as to determine the factors influencing vaccination in these adolescents and their families. METHODS: Two hundred forty-eight adolescents examined in the child psychiatry outpatient clinic were evaluated using a semi-structured psychiatric interview, strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ), the fear of COVID-19 scale, and a form about coronavirus vaccine hesitancy. The parents completed the vaccine hesitancy scale and answered the vaccine hesitancy questions. RESULTS: The vaccination rate was higher in patients with anxiety disorders. The patient`s age (odds ratio [OR]:1.59; 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.26, 2.02), the parent`s vaccine hesitancy (OR: 0.91; CI:0.87-0.95), the status of chronic disease in a family member (OR: 2.26; CI:1.10, 4.65), and the vaccination status of the adolescent`s parents (OR:7.40; CI:1.39, 39.34) were found to be predictive for adolescent vaccination. While 2.8% of the adolescents said that they were definitely against getting vaccinated, 7.7% were undecided. While the rate of undecided parents was 7.3%, those who were against vaccination was 1.6%. CONCLUSIONS: Age, parental vaccine hesitancy, and parental vaccination status can affect the vaccination of adolescents admitted to a child psychiatry clinic. Recognizing vaccine hesitancy in adolescents admitted to a child psychiatry clinic and in their families is beneficial for public health.

Successful completion of treadmill testing provides relief and reassurance for children with non-specific chest pain.

OBJECTIVE: Non-specific chest pain is one of the leading causes of admissions in paediatric cardiology outpatient clinics, and its management usually consists of extensive reassurance of patients and their families. As we have often observed that successful completion of treadmill testing during diagnostic work-up provides relief and reassurance in these patients and their families, we planned this study to quantitatively assess anxiety levels and perception of illness among children with non-specific chest pain before and after treadmill testing. METHOD: We studied 50 children (aged 11.8 ± 3.0 years, range 7-17 years; 24 females, 26 males) with a chief complaint of non-specific chest pain and negative history and echocardiography. They were asked to fill the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale before the treadmill testing and 1-10 days after successful completion of treadmill testing. RESULTS: Average total anxiety scores (36.38 ± 19.09 versus 33.36 ± 19.09, respectively) and average of total anxiety + depression scores (44.3 ± 24.92 versus 40.8 ± 26.97, respectively) of the children were found to be significantly lower after negative treadmill testing as compared to scores before testing (p < 0.05). Alterations in separation anxiety, panic, social phobia, obsession-compulsion scores were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Children with non-specific chest pain feel relieved and reassured after successful completion of treadmill testing. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first in the literature to show this relationship quantitatively.

Separation Individuation and Transitional Object Use in Daily Smoker Adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Smoking is an important problem in adolescence. Early developmental trajectories are also associated with cigarette smoking. OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to evaluate the separation-individuation process and use of transitional objects in daily smoker adolescents. METHOD: The research included 97 adolescents who were daily smokers and 210 adolescents who were nonsmokers. Transitional object assessment questionnaire, strength and difficulties questionnaire- adolescent form(SDQ), children's depression inventory(CDI) and state-trait anxiety inventory for children(STAI-C), separation and individuation test of adolescence(SITA) were applied. RESULTS: SITA subscales scores of engulfment anxiety, need denial, and rejection expectancy was higher and separation anxiety, teacher enmeshment, nurturance seeking scores were statistically significantly lower in smoker adolescents than nonsmokers. In logistic regression analysis, separation anxiety(odds ratio [OR] 0.93; 95% confidence interval[CI] 0.87-0.98), teacher enmeshment(OR 0.93; 95% CI 0.88-0.98), practicing mirroring(OR 1.05; 95% CI 1.02,1.08) and rejection expectancy (OR 1.06 95% CI 1.02,1.11) were found to be predictors of daily smoking. The use of a childhood transitional object for feeling tired and the use of an adolescent transitional object for feeling anxious and tired was found to be significantly higher in smokers. CONCLUSIONS: There are some differences in the process of separation-individuation and the use of transitional objects in the smoker group. This suggests that early developmental characteristics may be associated with smoking. Further studies are needed to better understand the causal relationship between smoking and the separation-individuation process and transitional object use.