Health communication needs for COVID-19 prevention and control among college students.

Objectives: During the early COVID-19 pandemic, college students had to switch to an online learning and online communication environment facing the chances of information overload, misinformation or conflicting information about COVID-19. This study aims to assess the communication needs that have arisen among college students to shed light on the development of a health communication campaign tailored toward college students. Methods: A series of 10 focus group discussions were conducted with 38 total participants. Each group has 2-6 undergraduate or graduate student participants. Nvivo was used to analyze the transcripts. Results: The students reported that they received conflicting information or misinformation. They requested messages with language that was easy to understand with infographics while being culturally appropriate. They advocated for regular and concise email updates from campus leadership. Most participants also preferred COVID-19 control and prevention information on social media. Conclusion: This study revealed the current status and the needs for health information about COVID-19 prevention and control among college students.

Promoting identities and mental health via cultural/community activities among racially/ethnically mixed urban American Indians.

This qualitative, focus group study explored the role of cultural/community activities in potentially promoting identities and mental health among urban American Indians who have mixed racial/ethnic heritages (e.g., African, Hispanic, and Caucasian) including those with mental illness in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (n = 25). The study identified a variety of unique benefits of cultural/community activities including its role in nurturing identity, belongingness, spiritual wakening and renewal, and mental health. Overall, these activity-induced benefits helped urban American Indians gain a feeling of oneness to experience peace of mind and harmony within oneself and with other people and the environment/nature.

Internet use and self-injurious behaviors among adolescents and young adults: an interdisciplinary literature review and implications for health professionals.

The ease and accessibility of the Internet has created an environment where individuals can both remain anonymous and interact with others who share their interests. Electronic discussion boards and social-networking sites allow individuals to communicate with others, via public postings, regarding specific topics of interest. These interactions have taken a therapeutic form for adolescents and young adults seeking practical and emotional support on the Internet. Support sites exist for many issues and illnesses, but sites focusing on self-injurious behaviors (SIB) have garnered recent attention because of their potential to either aid in recovery or exacerbate symptoms. SIB are those behaviors in which an individual purposely inflicts harm to his or her body. Based on an interdisciplinary literature review, self-injurious Web sites have been shown to provide anonymous support for individuals experiencing SIB from others who have experienced similar emotions. However, the literature also reveals that some peers who are providing the support are accepting of SIB and guilty of glossing over potentially serious posts. The emotional support received on these sites differs from services those individuals would receive from professionals, such as coping strategies to deal with stressors and a more detailed examination of ominous signs. The use of these Web sites as a help or a hindrance to an individual's recovery from SIB remains highly contested; health professionals should be aware of the pros and cons associated with this phenomenon and should be able to identify safe means of communication for clients suffering from SIB.

Leisure as a context for active living, recovery, health and life quality for persons with mental illness in a global context.

Globally, the mental health system is being transformed into a strengths-based, recovery-oriented system of care, to which the concept of active living is central. Based on an integrative review of the literature, this paper presents a heuristic conceptual framework of the potential contribution that enjoyable and meaningful leisure experiences can have in active living, recovery, health and life quality among persons with mental illness. This framework is holistic and reflects the humanistic approach to mental illness endorsed by the United Nations and the World Health Organization. It also includes ecological factors such as health care systems and environmental factors as well as cultural influences that can facilitate and/or hamper recovery, active living and health/life quality. Unique to this framework is our conceptualization of active living from a broad-based and meaning-oriented perspective rather than the traditional, narrower conceptualization which focuses on physical activity and exercise. Conceptualizing active living in this manner suggests a unique and culturally sensitive potential for leisure experiences to contribute to recovery, health and life quality. In particular, this paper highlights the potential of leisure engagements as a positive, strengths-based and potentially cost-effective means for helping people better deal with the challenges of living with mental illness.

The nature of stress experienced by lesbians and gay men.

This study examined both the meanings and sources/causes of stress from the perspectives of lesbians and gay men (n=30), using a series of focus groups. The findings suggest that stress is considered a part of life itself, and is perceived to contain both negative (e.g. detrimental effects on health and overall functioning, unfairness, out-of-control), and positive (e.g. a motivator, growth-facilitator) elements. The sources/causes of stress (i.e. stressors) identified include stress experienced from the "coming out" process, stress in family relations and intimate relationships, conflict over one's sexuality given society's homophobic and heterosexist attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, as well as stress from financial and work-related issues. More importantly, this study suggests that culture/ethnicity, gender, and aging, which are interconnected with one's sexual identity, play an important role in shaping the experiences of stress among lesbians and gay men.

Framework for Aboriginal-guided decolonizing research involving Métis and First Nations persons with diabetes.

This paper documents the process of implementing an Aboriginal-guided research approach to examining the lived experiences of Métis and First Nations peoples with diabetes in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. A newly developed Aboriginal-oriented process framework for decolonizing research includes, in order of application, the six processes of rationalizing, enabling, facilitating, experiencing, accepting, and enacting decolonizing research. We review the key methodological elements of our research as a basis for discussing this decolonizing process framework that challenges traditional western ways of doing research, and requires the reformulation of underlying assumptions and methods. Aboriginal-grounded decolonizing research processes have implications for health researchers and health service providers who work with Indigenous peoples worldwide and are particularly useful for developing culturally grounded, community-based health promotion programs for Indigenous peoples suffering from health-related problems, including diabetes.

Counteracting stress through leisure coping: a prospective health study.

The purpose of this study was to examine stress-buffer or -counteracting effects of leisure coping, by taking into account several key axes of society (i.e., gender, social class, and age) that are essential to characterize the diverse nature of our society. A 1-year prospective survey of a representative sample (n = 938) from an urban Canadian city was conducted. In the total sample, long-term health protective benefits of leisure coping became evident when stress levels were higher than lower (i.e., support for buffer effects of leisure coping). However, a health-protective effect of leisure coping to counteract the impact of stress on health was found substantially stronger for people with lower social class than for those with higher social class. On the other hand, health-protective stress-buffer effects of leisure coping were evident regardless of people's gender and age. The findings underscore the importance of giving greater attention to the role of leisure as a means of coping with stress in health practices, particularly among marginalized groups such as individuals with lower social class.

Contributions of leisure participation in predicting stress coping and health among police and emergency response services workers.

This study examined the extent to which frequency and enjoyment measures of leisure participation predict adaptational outcomes, over and above the contributions of general coping. Police and emergency response services workers (N = 132) participated in the study, and a repeated measures design was used. The study provides evidence that the type of leisure activity matters in predicting immediate adaptational outcomes (coping effectiveness, coping satisfaction and stress reduction) and mental and physical health. Relaxing leisure was found to be the strongest positive predictor of coping with stress, while social leisure and cultural leisure significantly predicted greater mental or physical health.