Extreme hot weather poses increasing risks to mental health. Yet, factors affecting vulnerability are under-researched. This mixed-method study integrates a systematic review and qualitative investigation to identify risk and protective factors for heat-related mental health issues, leading to the co-development of a screening tool. This could inform future research and, pending validation in clinical settings, support mental health professionals in assessing vulnerability among service users.

We searched PubMed and Web of Science for publications on extreme heat, mental health, and risk/protective factors. In addition, we conducted six focus groups with 21 people with lived experience of heat and/or mental illness and 12 healthcare professionals. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis and informed the co-development of the screening tool.

Out of 764 articles identified by the systematic review, 47 were included. Evidence emerged for age, sex, existing mental illness, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status as risk factors. However, findings were inconsistent between studies, likely due to differences in study population and methodology. Protective effects included good physical health, social support, and exposure to green spaces. Our qualitative investigation identified additional risk and protective factors related to: (1) behavioral adaptability, (2) personal heat sensitivity, and (3) disparities in heat exposure. The resulting screening tool, HEAT-MH (Heat Exposure Assessment Tool for Mental Health), contains 15 questions on previous experiences of heat, general health, and lifestyle.

The mental health impacts of extreme heat depend on a range of risk and protective factors, including demographic, socioeconomic, health, and lifestyle characteristics.

While initial anhedonia predicts poor psychotherapy outcomes, little is known about its trajectory during treatment. This study aimed to: (1) identify distinct anhedonia trajectories during high-intensity depression treatment; (2) examine patient and treatment predictors; and (3) compare outcomes across treatment types.

Sessional anhedonia scores (PHQ-9 item-1) from 22,605 patients in NHS talking therapies (primarily receiving either cognitive-behavioral therapy [CBT] or counseling for depression [CfD]) were analyzed using latent growth curve (LGC) and growth mixture modeling. Multinomial logistic regression examined predictors of class membership.

A quadratic LGC model best fit the data, reflecting a decrease in symptoms before leveling out. Six latent classes emerged. Notably, three “non-responder” classes characterized by linear-stable or minimal-change patterns comprised over 50% of the sample (51.3%). In contrast, two “responder” classes (41.4%) exhibited improvement, typically shifting between sessions 4 and 6. This suggests an early “inflection point” where the trajectory of recovery is established. Poorer response was predicted by unemployment, chronic health conditions, psychotropic medication, and longer wait times. There was only a sufficient sample size to compare CBT and CfD treatment types. While CBT was associated with membership in specific classes, the probability of being a “responder” did not differ significantly between CBT and CfD.

Most patients followed non-responder trajectories, highlighting a major efficacy gap for anhedonia in standard depression protocols. The 4–6 session window suggests that if improvement is not observed early, the treatment strategy may require further evaluation. Further research into targeted anhedonia interventions is essential.

Cognitive difficulties, including problems with attention and executive processing, are common in major depressive disorder (MDD), and strongly predict psychosocial and occupational functioning. Impairment in sustained attention contributes to increased intra-individual variability (IIV) in reaction times observed during cognitive tasks. Understanding brain network changes associated with IIV could guide novel neuromodulation strategies targeting cognitive difficulties.

We analyzed baseline resting-state fMRI data from 209 patients with moderate-to-severe treatment-resistant MDD who participated in the BRIGhTMIND neuromodulation trial. Following a preregistered analytic protocol, we examined associations between: functional connectivity across three core brain networks (executive control, ECN; default mode, DMN; and salience network, SN); components of IIV derived from a choice reaction time task (using a three-parameter ex-Gaussian model); and functioning.

Greater IIV was linked to increased ECN-DMN functional connectivity. The ECN supports top-down control and externally directed cognition, while the DMN supports internal mentation and rumination. ECN-DMN connectivity was modulated by the SN, which prioritizes salient internal and external stimuli. Higher SN-ECN connectivity was associated with lower ECN-DMN connectivity and with faster mean reaction times. Both IIV and mean reaction time predicted functioning, with poorer functioning related to a slowed and inflexible response pattern.

Distinct components of reaction time variability are associated with specific patterns of brain network connectivity, largely independent of mood severity. Connectivity between the salience and executive control networks may represent a promising target for neuromodulation interventions focused on cognitive deficits in MDD.

This study investigated the effects of therapeutic play on angiography in children aged 4–10.

Our study was conducted as a randomised controlled experimental trial with 70 (experimental: 35, control: 35) children undergoing angiography at the paediatric cardiology clinic of a university hospital between 1 January 2022 and 31 August 2022. The “Child Information Form”, “Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale”, “Children’s Fear Scale”, “Children’s Anxiety Meter-State” and “Doll Model” were used for data collection. Percentage, mean, pearson correlation, ANOVA were used in the evaluation of the data.

It was found that 57.1% of the children who participated in our study were female, their mean age was 6.48±2.36 years, 45.7% had the diagnosis of Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), 78.6% had not undergone any surgery before and 60% were hospitalised for follow-up. It was found that the difference between pain, fear and anxiety scores of the children after the therapeutic play programme was statistically significant (p ˂ 0.05).

Our study found that therapeutic play programmes can reduce pain, fear and anxiety in children. These findings demonstrate that negative experiences during invasive procedures affect children not only physiologically, but also psychologically and behaviourally. Therapeutic play can therefore be a powerful supportive intervention. Therefore, we recommend integrating therapeutic play into nursing clinical guidelines and care protocols, and providing paediatric nurses with training in this area.

Quality of social support is linked to mental health, but less is known about its long-term effects. We aimed to investigate the effects of the quality of social support on affective symptoms from midlife through later life.

Data were used from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD), a prospective birth cohort originally consisting of 5,362 people born in 1946. Affective symptoms were measured at ages 53, 60–64, and 69 years using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), and longitudinal affective symptom trajectories were derived using growth mixture modeling. Quality of social support (positive and negative) was assessed at age 53 years with an adapted version of the Close Persons Questionnaire. Associations of positive and negative social support with affective symptoms at each age and with the longitudinal trajectories were tested using structural equation modeling and the R3 Step approach.

Four distinct affective symptom trajectories were identified: no/low symptoms (83%), low and increasing symptoms (8%), consistently moderate/high symptoms (5%), and moderate/high and decreasing symptoms (4%). In fully adjusted models, negative social support was associated with affective symptoms at all three ages (β: 0.09–0.16, all p-values < .001) and with the ‘consistently moderate/high symptoms’ trajectory (OR = 1.65, 95% CI: 1.36, 2.01, p < .001); no association was found for positive social support.

Results highlight the importance of negative social support as a potential modifiable factor in prevention and intervention initiatives for affective symptoms among adults from midlife to later life.

Inappropriate antibiotic allergy labeling often leads to the unnecessary avoidance of first-line therapies. The present study aimed to evaluate the current status of antibiotic allergy documentation and its assessment in patients undergoing surgery for which cefazolin was the recommended first-line prophylaxis in a Japanese hospital.

This retrospective observational study was conducted at a university hospital in Tokyo from 2021 to 2023; included patients with a history of antimicrobial allergy who underwent surgery for which cefazolin was recommended; and assessed patient demographics, details of the allergies in electronic health records (EHR), and perioperatively administered antimicrobial agents.

Of 2,402 eligible patients, 243 (10.1%) had a registered antimicrobial allergy. The drug classes most frequently recorded in the EHR were cephalosporins (25.0%) and penicillins (24.0%). Documentation of allergy assessments by a physician (9.0%) or specialist (7.0%) was rare. Although 51.9% of the labeled patients had received cefazolin, non-first-line agents had also been frequently administered. Notably, clindamycin had been administered to 30% of the cases and had been widely used even among patients with only a penicillin allergy label despite the low risk of cross-reactivity.

Antibiotic allergy labels in the EHR were often incomplete, infrequently assessed, and associated with substantial avoidance of first-line prophylaxis. Redesigning the EHR format to allow allergies to be distinguished from adverse events while retaining the standard evaluation pathways is essential to optimizing perioperative antimicrobial stewardship.