Rhythmic auditory stimulation incorporated in training improved movements in individuals with psychotic-like experiences.

Movement abnormalities, including movement slowing and irregular muscle contraction, exist in individuals with psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) and serve as vulnerable factors of developing psychotic diseases in the psychosis continuum. To date scarce studies have developed early intervention programs tackling these initial impairments, which may be caused by basal ganglia alterations, in the early stage of the psychosis course. Rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) is a technique of neurological music therapy and has been proved effective in inducing faster movements in patients with psychotic diseases. This pilot study examined if RAS incorporated in functional movement training reduced severity of movement slowing and irregular muscle contraction in individuals with PLEs. Seventeen individuals with PLEs were randomly allocated to receiving RAS or receiving no RAS and underwent daily 40-min movement training (picking up beans) for three weeks. This study used motion analysis to measure movement performance at pretest and posttest. Eighteen age- and gender-matched individuals without PLEs were also recruited to provide data of intact movements. Results showed that RAS may reduce severity of movement slowing and irregular muscle contraction in individuals with PLEs. This pilot study is one of the pioneering studies validating effectiveness of early intervention programs tackling movement abnormalities, which are initial impairments in the psychosis continuum, in individuals with PLEs.

Time bound: the timescape of secondary trauma of the surviving teachers of the Wenchuan Earthquake.

This article introduces a timescape perspective to enrich our understanding of postdisaster secondary trauma and social capital. Drawing upon a 2-year ethnographic study in 2008-2010 of a high school most devastated by the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan, China, this article discusses how the national future-oriented timescape of recovery produced the secondary trauma among the surviving teachers. In particular, this article elucidates the pervasiveness of the industrial linear and mechanical calendar and clock time in the state and societal response. This article proposes that human connectedness-the key component of social capital crucial to the restoration of self and community efficacy in postdisaster recovery-requires a temporal frame that allows multiple levels and rhythms of grieving and reconnecting with existing social relations. This article also highlights the critical role of teachers in the collective healing of students and the community efficacy of the school.

Factors influencing attitudes towards seeking professional help among East and Southeast Asian immigrant and refugee women.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: It has been recognized that Asian immigrants in North America have lower rates of mental health service utilization. From the perspective of cross-cultural psychiatry, one of the most important cultural factors may be differences in the explanatory model of illness. This article examines the relationship of causal beliefs, perceived service accessibility and attitudes towards seeking mental health care. METHOD: The sample consisted of 1000 immigrant and refugee women from five ethnic minority communities in Toronto, including three Chinese Canadian communities (Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan), Korean Canadians and Vietnamese Canadians. Data were acquired by a self-administered structured questionnaire. Quantitative data were analysed using MANOVA, ANOVA and stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS: The five ethnic minority groups of women differed in their explanatory models about mental illness and distress. In the full model where other variables were controlled for, the most significant factor predicting attitudes towards seeking professional help was perceived access for all groups except the Hong Kong Chinese. In the last group, those subscribing more to a Western stress model of illness had a more positive attitude towards seeking professional help, while those subscribing more to supernatural beliefs had a more negative attitude. Age and education were not significant predictors. CONCLUSION: Perceived access is one of the main factors that influence attitudes toward seeking professional help. Explanatory models may predict help-seeking behaviours if perceived access to such services is available.

Queen Mary Utilization of Antihypertensive Drugs Study: use of antihypertensive drug classes in the hypertension clinic 1996-2004.

BACKGROUND: Utilization of antihypertensive drugs in the hypertension outpatient clinic is surveyed periodically in the Queen Mary Utilization of Antihypertensive Drugs Study (QUADS). METHODS: Two hundred and fifty-one patients (123 men, 128 women) were interviewed in April to December 1996, 439 patients (232 men, 207 women) in January to December 99 and 228 patients (109 men, 119 women) in April to May 2004. Their case notes were reviewed. RESULTS: The percentages of patients receiving no drug (lifestyle modification), one, two, three and over three drugs were 7%, 48%, 36%, 7%, 3%, respectively, in 1996; 14%, 34%, 36%, 13% and 1%, respectively, in 1999; and 3%, 30%, 40%, 22% and 6%, respectively, in 2004. The number of drugs correlated with age and overweight. In 1996, 51% patients received calcium channel blockers (CCB); 46% beta-blockers (BB); 32% angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI); 15% thiazide diuretics; 5% alpha-blockers; and 0% angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB). In 1999, the respective figures were 52% CCB, 49% BB, 24% ACEI, 22% thiazide diuretics, 4%alpha-blockers and 2% ARB. In 2004, the respective figures were 65% CCB, 64% BB, 33% ACEI, 24% thiazide diuretics, 4% alpha-blockers and 7% ARB. Fewer patients on BBs reported side-effects. Only 11% were on alpha statin and 9% on aspirin. Blood pressure on treatment was 147 +/- 21/84 +/- 11 mmHg in 1999 and 144 +/- 21/82 +/- 11 mmHg in 2004. CONCLUSIONS: Increasingly, multiple drugs were used for blood pressure control. Blood pressure control needs improvement, especially in diabetics. CCBs and BBs were consistently popular. Thiazide diuretics, ARBs, statins and aspirin were underused, despite favourable clinical trial evidence.

When Asian immigrant women speak: from mental health to strategies of being.

Immigrant women from 5 ethnic-cultural communities (Korean, Hong Kong Chinese, Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada participated in a focus group study (13 focus groups of 102 participants) of Asian immigrant women's conceptions of mental health. Their responses challenge the predominant conceptualizations of mental health in North America, the popular characterization of Asian culture as collectivistic, and the stereotypic image of Asian women as defining themselves in family relations. In trying to live a life they desire and to quest for a better state of well-being, these women have asserted their agency to articulate multiple strategies of being.