Associations of childhood trauma and childhood mental disorder with past-year mental disorder in military and civilian employed men.

Childhood factors are pivotal to understanding mental health over the lifespan. However, there is a dearth of research exploring childhood trauma and childhood disorder simultaneously in determining adult mental disorder. We aimed to analyze childhood trauma and childhood disorder in determining past-year disorder in military and civilian employed men aged 18-60 years. Data derived from the 2010 Australian Defence Force (ADF) Mental Health Prevalence and Wellbeing Study, and the 2007 Australian Bureau of Statistics National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing were analysed using logistic regression and Generalised Structural Equation Modelling (GSEM). All major findings were consistent across both populations. The association between childhood disorder and past-year disorder remained after controlling for demographics, childhood and adult trauma (and service factors in the ADF). Childhood non-interpersonal trauma was not associated with past-year disorder in either population. The pathway between childhood trauma and past-year disorder was fully mediated by the spectrum of common childhood disorders, but not by childhood anxiety, depression or alcohol use disorders alone. Identification, intervention and prevention of childhood disorders is imperative. Investment in interventions targeting the influence of childhood traumatic events on the whole spectrum of childhood disorder, not only PTSD or anxiety, is a priority.

Improved Attitudes to Psychiatry: A Global Mental Health Peer-to-Peer E-Learning Partnership.

OBJECTIVE: Health links aim to strengthen healthcare systems in low and middle-income countries through mutual exchange of skills, knowledge, and experience. However, student participation remains limited despite growing educational emphasis upon global health. Medical students continue to report negative attitudes to psychiatry in high-income countries, and in Somaliland, the lack of public sector psychiatrists limits medical students' awareness of mental healthcare. The authors describe the design, implementation, and mixed-methods analysis of a peer-to-peer psychiatry e-learning partnership between UK and Somaliland students arising from a global mental health link between the two countries. METHODS: Medical students at King's College London and Hargeisa and Amoud universities, Somaliland, were grouped into 24 pairs. Participants aimed to complete ten fortnightly meetings to discuss psychiatry topics via the website MedicineAfrica. Students completed initial and final evaluations including Attitudes toward Psychiatry (ATP-30) questions, a stigma questionnaire, and brief evaluations after each meeting. RESULTS: Quantitative findings demonstrated that enjoyment, interest, and academic helpfulness were rated highly by students in Somaliland and moderately by students in the UK. Somaliland students' attitudes to psychiatry were significantly more positive post-participation, whereas UK students' attitudes remained stable. Qualitative findings identified more gains in factual knowledge for Somaliland students, whereas UK students reported more cross-cultural learning. Reasons for non-completion and student-suggested improvements emphasized the need to ensure commitment to the program by participants. CONCLUSIONS: This partnership encouraged students to consider global mental health outside the standard medical education environment, through an e-learning format solely utilizing existing resources. This new approach demonstrates potential benefits to students in contrasting locations of brief, focused online peer-to-peer education partnerships, expanding the scope of health links to the medical professionals of the future.

International Health Links movement expands in the United Kingdom.

The need to strengthen health capacity in developing countries is widely documented. The World Health Organization has called for an increase in the number of health workers in all countries experiencing critical shortages, a significant scaling-up of training and more efficient use of existing health workers. Health Links, long-term mutually beneficial partnerships between UK health institutions and their counterparts in developing countries, are helping to fill these gaps. Links allow for the reciprocal transfer of knowledge and skills between partners, enabling the UK's expertise in health service delivery and training to be channelled towards the needs of those in developing countries, while also bringing a wide range of benefits to the UK. Examples of Health Links in Ethiopia demonstrate such benefits. An increasingly supportive policy environment is enabling a significant expansion in the number of Links. However, the quality of these Links is critical to their impact and thus there is a need both to continue to support those engaging in Links to develop sustainable, mutually beneficial strategic partnerships, and to strengthen the body of evidence of their impacts.