What Do We Know About the Influence of Believers' Religiosity on Happiness and Gratitude? - A Perspective for Clinical Practice.

Introduction: The recognition of religion's significance in mental health has led to several scientific advances in diagnosis or treatment. In contrast, Vietnam is a multi-religious Southeast Asian country with a large number of believers, but there is almost no research addressing the impact of religiosity among Vietnamese believers on mental health concerns such as depression, happiness, and gratitude. Participants and Methods: Our cross-sectional study was focused on Vietnamese believers (N = 374), surveyed directly at different religious facilities in Vietnam. The present study was evaluated utilizing the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology. Results: The primary findings of the study indicate that (i) age was found to positively moderate the association between intrinsic religiosity and gratitude (ß = 0.191, 95% CI [0.116, 0.277], p < 0.001); (ii) Intrinsic religiosity has a positive influence on depression-happiness scale (ß = 0.276, 95% CI [0.168, 0.373], p < 0.001) and gratitude (ß = 0.337, 95% CI [0.205, 0.466], p < 0.001); Moreover, (iii) gratitude has a positive influence on depression-happiness scale (ß = 0.381, 95% CI [0.280, 0.491], p < 0.001); Finally, (iv) the study revealed that gratitude mediates the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and depression-happiness scale (ß = 0.128, 95% CI [0.071, 0.197], p < 0.001). Discussion: The findings of this study suggest that gratitude could potentially play a significant role in comprehending the association between religiosity and the levels of depression and happiness experienced by religious individuals in Vietnam.

Factors affecting the social and emotional health of adolescents: A cross-sectional study in Vietnam.

The period of puberty in youth brings various changes in their psychology which can make their social and emotional development unbalanced. The current study aimed to identify the factors affecting the adolescents social-emotional health. We conducted a cross-sectional study on 600 Vietnamese adolescents selected conveniently from the three regions of Vietnam during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Factors considered was sociodemographic information and health condition. By using the multiple binary logistic regression, we determined the factors negatively affected adolescents' social-emotional health. In which, religion was found to be the most predictive factor negatively affect the social-emotional health among the adolescents. The individual factors were found to be highly related to the positive experience of social-emotional health. From the findings, we suggest the solutions to prevent the negative experience of social-emotional health among the adolescents from a perspective of practice and develop social-emotional skills.

Mediation Effects of Premarital Sexual Permissiveness on the Relationship Between Expectations for Marriage and Marital Intention of Vietnamese Undergraduate Students.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of expectations for marital relationships and premarital sexual permissiveness on intent to marry of Vietnamese emerging adults. Patients and Methods: Our cross-sectional study was focused on emerging adults including 344 participants, undergraduate students from universities in Viet Nam. This study was assessed by using the PLS-SEM approach. Results: The main findings demonstrated that (i) sexual orientation have a significant effect on marital intention; (ii) individuals' expectations for marital relationship have a direct effect on marital intention; and (iii) premarital sexuality permissiveness mediates the relationship between expectations for marital relationship and marital intention. Conclusion: Our results contribute important documents and clearer understanding of emerging adults' expectations and requirements in a relationship for the marriage decision-making process.

The impact of Confucianism on social and emotional health of Vietnamese adolescents: A phenomenological study.

Confucianism has become an educational ideology in Vietnam and blended its philosophy with other religious and spiritual doctrines. The current study explores the impact of Confucianism on social and emotional health (SEH), which focuses on the skill-based aspect of Confucian Vietnamese adolescents. A hermeneutic phenomenological study was chosen as an appropriate approach for collecting and interpreting descriptions of 15 Confucian Vietnamese adolescents to explore how these lived experiences have shaped their current perceptions of SEH. We have labeled the two shared common characteristics in the participants' various SEH experiences, including (1) Authentic perception of Confucian philosophy strengthens the self-esteem; (2) Positive practice of the 5-essential human virtues helps establish and maintain healthy, supportive relationships. The two essences reflected the positive impact of Confucianism on SEH of Vietnamese adolescents. The adolescents' SEH experiences are consistent with Confucian philosophy while at the same time not conflicting with other religious doctrines. The findings of this study have broadened our understanding of the applicability of socio-emotional competence models to promote positive psychological development in adolescents, and the feasible goal-setting in counseling and psychotherapy from different psychological theories about the combination of religious and spiritual practices.

The PSYCARE model: Its efficacy in mental health care during the fourth outbreak of COVID-19 in Vietnam.

Objective: Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) was seriously affected by the 4th COVID-19 outbreak. This study aimed to provide mental health care services for people through a psychological intervention model, called "PSYCARE." The model included five MHC services: active and passive education, propagation, 24-h hotline consultation, online interventions/counseling, and crisis intervention. Methods: The entire workflow was implemented in the three steps under the leadership of the Ho Chi Minh City government: (1) Preparation and mobilization, (2) Multidisciplinary team establishment, and (3) Feedback mechanism, and project completion. By statistical method on service usage data of people during the outbreak, we evaluated the results as well as discussed the model's effectiveness. Results: In 42 days of implementation, there were a total of 149 posts, 1660 shares in social networks with more than 4,000 interactions per week. A MHC handbook was published. Ten episodes of MHC radio and ten live TV programs were broadcast with more than 10,000 listening times. We successfully propagated 35 topics at 4 COVID-19 hospitals and 34 quarantine areas. A total of 2,069 hotline consultations were done. 1,382 cases were counseled online, and 145 one-on-one crisis interventions were done to three groups: COVID-19 infected/affected children and adults, vulnerable people, frontline medical, and military staff. Conclusion: The PSYCARE model has been proven to positively affect the general population's mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak. Our framework and model could be used as an expert reference guide in providing effective psychological intervention in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Influence of COVID-19 Stress and Self-Concealment on Professional Help-Seeking Attitudes: A Cross-Sectional Study of University Students.

PURPOSE: The fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically influenced many aspects of individuals' lives, putting the general population's mental health at high risk, especially university students in Vietnam. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between current living status and COVID-19 stress and test whether COVID-19 stress mediates the effect of self-concealment on help-seeking attitudes among university students. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A sample of 478 university students was recruited online to complete the survey. Parametric tests, correlation, regression, and simple mediation analyses were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Our results show that students living alone experience more COVID-19 stress levels than those living with family or friends. Additionally, there is a significant positive association between self-concealment and professional help-seeking attitudes that is partially mediated by COVID-19 stress. Individuals who tend to conceal personal information have high COVID-19 stress levels, leading to positive professional help-seeking attitudes. CONCLUSION: University administrators, social workers, counselors, clinicians, and therapists must consider students living alone as prioritized vulnerable groups for early mental health interventions. Clinicians should be aware of self-concealment and professional help-seeking attitudes that could influence psychological treatment.

Exploring the Challenges of Social-Emotional Learning Integration in Secondary Schools: A Phenomenological Research in Vietnam.

INTRODUCTION: With the advantage of the restructured education in Vietnam, the social-emotional learning (SEL) framework has been gradually piloting applied into the educational curriculum. However, the SEL integration is only effective in primary school. METHODS: This study applied qualitative phenomenological research, which used in-depth interviews with students and core teachers who have experienced SEL from previous studies to explore and explain the SEL integration is not successful at the secondary level. FINDINGS: Four findings showed the current challenges of SEL's integration in Vietnamese educational curriculum: 1) the incompatibility between the current curriculum and the teachers' pedagogical capacity; 2) the perceived difficulties in integrating SEL into educational activities; 3) the limited focus on understanding the students' psychology; and 4) students cannot develop their social-emotional competence. DISCUSSION: When the challenges can be solved, corresponding to the solutions discussed, can the SEL framework be properly integrated into Vietnamese education, as well as designing an integrated continuous SEL-orientated curriculum across school levels, meeting the requirements of the new educational curriculum.