Epidemiological evidence shows a concerning rise in youth mental health difficulties over the past three decades. Most evidence, however, comes from countries in Europe or North America, with far less known about changes in other global regions. This study aimed to compare adolescent mental health across two population-based cohorts in the UK, and two population-based cohorts in Pelotas, Brazil.

Four population-based cohorts with identical mental health measures were compared. In Brazil, these included the 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort and the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort. In the UK, cohorts included the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, and the Millennium Cohort Study. Mental health was measured in all cohorts using identical, parent-rated scores from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). This was assessed in both countries over approximately the same time periods, when adolescents were aged 11 (2004 vs 2015 in Brazil, and 2003 vs 2012 in the UK), with follow-up analyses focused on outcomes in later adolescence.

Mental health problems were higher in the UK for adolescents born in the early 2000s compared to those born in the early 1990s. In Pelotas, the opposite was found, whereby problems were lower for adolescents born in the early 2000s compared to those born in the early 1990s. Despite these promising reductions in mental health problems in Pelotas over time, SDQ scores remained higher in Pelotas compared to the UK.

Our study represents the first to compare two population-based cohorts in the UK, and two population-based cohorts in Pelotas, Brazil, to understand how mental health problems have changed over time across the two settings. Our findings provide the most up-to-date insight into population-level rates of youth mental health problems in Pelotas, and shed novel insight into how these have changed over the last two decades in comparison to the UK. In doing so, our study provides a tentative first step towards understanding youth mental health over time at a more global scale, and presents a valuable opportunity to examine putative contributors to differences across time.

Improving access to and quality of maternal and infant healthcare are important leverage points to address worsening maternal and infant health disparities in the USA. This study evaluates the comprehensiveness of existing maternal and infant quality-of-care measures to identify aspects of quality that need greater attention in quality measurement.

We conducted a structured, team-based qualitative review of 88 maternal and infant health measures indexed by the National Quality Forum (NQF), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). We assessed discrete elements relevant to meaningfulness, feasibility, and usability following AHRQ National Quality Strategy (NQS) criteria, with input from researcher, clinician, and citizen scientist investigators. Descriptive statistics on coded measures were calculated using SPSS.

The most common AHRQ NQS priorities addressed were mortality (60%) and safety (48%). Average scores across elements were 59% for feasibility, 61% for practice usability, and 31% for policy usability. Fewer measures addressed coordination, affordability, or patient engagement in the postpartum period. Only 23% of measures were endorsed by NQF, only 17% of measures had publicly available benchmarks, and only 14% had specifications updated in the year prior to review.

Findings from this study can inform the specification of a comprehensive, updated system for maternal and infant quality-of-care evaluation and can facilitate the development of new quality-of-care measures that address underrepresented maternal and infant health issues.

The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire short version (EDE-Q7) presented better psychometric properties than the Fairburn’s 28-items original version, not only in girls (Machado et al. 2018), but also in older women (Pereira et al. 2021; Pereira et al. 2022). It comprises 7 items in three subscales: Dietary Restraint/DR; Shape and Weight Overvaluation/SWO and Body Dissatisfaction/BD. In a more recent clinical study in men (Laskowski et al. 2023) the factors associated with body concerns and dissatisfaction weren’t fully represented in the questionnaire, possibly indicating differences in body ideals, specially relating to musculature.

We aimed to analyze the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of EDE-Q7 in males.

Participants were 227 male individuals with a mean age of 30.41 years (±13.96; range: 14-73 years). They answered an online survey including the Portuguese versions of the Screen for Disordered Eating/SDE; the Body Image Concern Inventory/BICI and the Muscle Dysmorphia subscale of the Eating Disorder Assessment for Men/DM-EDAM.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed that the second order model presented good fit (χ2/df=2.437; RMSEA=.0794; CFI=.986 TLI=.974, GFI=.967). Cronbach’s alpha was .856 for the total, .876 for DR and .917 for SWO and .900 for BD. All items contributed to internal consistency and presented high internal validity. Pearson’s correlations of EDE-Q7 with BICI (.465), DM-EDAM (.384) and SDE (.361) were significant (p<.001) and moderate.

Also in men, the Portuguese version of EDE-Q7 demonstrates good validity (construct and convergent) and reliability.

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Non-suicidal self-injury among adolescents has grown in recent years, becoming a significant public health issue. The high social and psychological impacts related to it are often characterized by substance abuse and the development of anxiety and depression. Furthermore, emotional dysregulation and heightened reactivity are associated psychological characteristics.

The aim of this paper was to do a scoping review, mapping the existing literature on self-harming behaviors among Brazilian adolescents, considering their sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.

We followed the adapted PRISMA checklist for scoping reviews. We searched eight databases: APA PsycNet, LILACS, MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, and Scopus. The selection of studies was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, where three independent researchers examined all titles and abstracts, applying the eligibility criteria. Accordingly, six studies were selected for descriptive analysis due to the variety of study types.

A total of 2,032 youngsters were studied in the age range of 10 to 19 years-old, among over 15,000 reported cases of self-harming behaviors. Females accounted for 51.3% of the cases and had higher scores of impulsivity and loneliness to self-harming behavior (P ≤ 0.05). Alcohol use was evident across both genders but showed higher measures for males in both age groups (10 to 14 and 15 to 19 years, p < 0.001).

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The study pointed to a diversity of clinical and sociodemographic characteristics; however further research is needed on this topic on Brazilian adolescents. In addition, a broader standardization of data is necessary for more specific statistical analyses.

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Some studies have shown that late-life depression is related to faster cognitive decline and may increase the risk of dementia.

Identifying risk and protective factors for dementia is essential to develop preventive interventions. Some literature has suggested that mood disorders (namely depression) are potential modifiable risk factors for dementia.

Thus, it is important to know clinical presentation of depression that is associated to dementia, as a manifestation of subclinical dementia or as a risk factor for neurocognitive disorders.

We aim to identify clinical characteristics related to dementia of inpatients admitted for first time due to depressive episode after 55 years old.

Retrospective cohort study of inpatients admitted between January 1st 2010 and March 31st 2022 in a psychiatry inpatient unit of a tertiary hospital. Descriptive analysis of the results was performed using the SPSS software, version 26.0.

Our sample included 57 inpatients, 15,8% (n=9) with the diagnosis of dementia 5,2 (SD 5,6) years after admission. All of these patients presented a depressive episode with psychotic symptoms, namely delusion activity. In those with hallucinatory activity, no one developed dementia.

Interestingly, 33,3% of patients with dementia (n=3) presented with delusion of ruin, 55,6% (n=5) with delusion of prejudice/persecutory delusion and 66,7% (n=6) manifested delusion of ruin and/or prejudice.

We also found that 42,9% (n=3) of patients with dementia manifested Cotard delusion while this type of delusion was observed in 13,6% of patients without dementia (p=0,095).

Our study has several limitations because is based on results of only one hospital, with a small sample size.

However, since depressive symptoms are potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia, future studies are essential to understand the mechanisms that link depression to cognitive decline as well as clinical characteristics that may constitute predictors of dementia.

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Health Psychology is aggregated to clinical studies providing physicians, nurses, and psychotherapists with psychodynamics of sick persons, facilitating interpersonal relationships and greater adherence to treatments. How do people deal with illness and treatment from what they symbolize in experiences of becoming ill? Watch & Wait Protocol for patients with rectal cancer is an active surveillance as an alternative approach in surgical medical management. Patients are followed with physical examinations, endoscopy, and imaging. Observation carried out through periodic examinations aims to avoid surgery stage while rectal cancer is maintained.

To interpret emotional meanings attributed by patients, after adhering to the W&W protocol for rectal cancer, to life experiences of watching and waiting for the disease course.

Clinical-Qualitative Method (Turato. Portuguese Psychos. J, 2000 2(1): 93-108). For data collection, the first author used Semi-Directed Interview with Open-ended Questions In-Depth and Field Notes, after acculturation. Sample closed by information saturation (Fontanella et al. Cad Saude Publica. 2008; 24(1): 17-27). Interviews conducted by the first author, a female psychologist. We employed the Seven Steps of the Clinical-Qualitative Content Analysis (Faria-Schützer et al. Cien Saude Colet. 2021; 26(1): 265-274) to construct categories. Theoretical framework was the Balintian Medical Psychology. Findings were validated by peer reviewers from Lab of Clinical-Qualitative Research.

Sample had 10 patients, 3 female and 7 male, from 52 to 77 years. Interviews carried out from October 2022 to March 2023. We constructed 03 categories: 1) Fate out of hands - “I get sick just coming in here.” There is an apprehension experienced in each medical evaluation to check the clinical condition because the symbol of waiting is not having the own destiny in the hands. 2) Psychic defence - “Sometimes I even thought if I had to live on a grant for the rest of my life or die!” Imagining the worst is a psychic defence because if this probability occurs, the mind has already begun its elaboration. 3) Life upside down - “I was going to have the surgery, use a bag, my life was going to be upside down.” Anxiety generated by waiting is a mental disorganizing.

Attitudes of observing and waiting carry different symbolisms to those who work with scientific thinking and who experience the observation of their own disease and the wait for what conduct they will receive. Observing oneself in illness requires acceleration of changes in ego identity. Waiting in front of illness asks the ego to think the worst. It is not a volitional choice. Preparing for the worst is a defensive necessity in the emotional sphere to avoid surprises that take to mental rupture.

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Individuals with mental health disorders often lack access to appropriate care, including psychosocial rehabilitation programs, which are considered essential for their recovery. In 2019, as part of the intervention by the Community and Mental Health Service, at Hospital de Magalhães Lemos, we initiated a psychoeducational group for patients with psychotic spectrum disorders, with the purpose of providing our patients with comprehensive information about their condition and effective management strategies. Our 8-week program consisted of 16 sessions, including icebreaker activities, discussion of certain themes, sharing of experiences and practice of stress management techniques.

The aim of this study was to assess and quantify the impact of our 2023 program.

Out of a total of 20 patients interviewed for our program in 2023, 16 began the program and 12 completed it. The program’s evaluation was based on several assessment tools, including a sociodemographic questionnaire, a knowledge assessment questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Insight and Treatment Attitudes Questionnaire (ITAC), the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL), and the Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS). We also created a health agenda to organize an individual plan of care.

Our findings indicated an improvement in insight and attitudes towards treatment by 8.6%, an enhancement in treatment adherence by 5%, and an increase in knowledge by 11.9%. In terms of quality of life, we observed a slight improvement in the psychological domain by 0.6% and in the social domain by 1.2%. Regarding the impact on psychotic symptomatology, there was an average decrease in 4 points in the negative subscale and in 3 points in the general psychopathology subscale, whereas the positive subscale remained unchanged. None of the patients required hospitalization during this period.

Our study revealed some improvement in nearly all the evaluated parameters. There was an improvement of the therapeutic relationship, which we believe has contributed to lower scores in the negative symptoms and general psychopathology subscale. As for the study limitations, we acknowledge that we will need to expand our sample through additional programs in the next years, to include it in early intervention psychosis programs and to re-evaluate our patients’ outcomes after a more extended follow-up period, particularly if they continue to participate in our monthly mutual support group. Additionally, we must consider potential study biases, including the subjectivity of PANSS evaluations and the influence of other confounding factors, such as changes in treatment regimens during the program.

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Although symptom presentation varies by gender, almost all eating disorder/ED instruments have been developed and validated on females. The Eating Disorder Assessment for Men (EDAM; Stanford & Lemberg 2012) is a male specific self-report measure, composed of four sub-scales, proved to be useful to assess gender differences in ED presentations (Nagata et al. 2021). The MD comprises 5 items about the overwhelming concern with muscularity and the false perception of having an underdeveloped body.

Having already valid measures of body image and eating behaviors in men, we now aim to analyze the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of MD, in order to have a quick and rigorous measure of this specific construct.

Participants were 227 male individuals (mean age=30.41 years±13.96; range: 14-73 years). They answered an online survey including the preliminary DM and the Portuguese validated versions of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q7) and the Body Image Concern Inventory (BICI).

Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed that the unidimensional model presented good fit indexes (χ2/df=.6829; RMSEA=.0000; CFI=1.00 TLI=1.01, GFI=.995). Cronbach’s alfa was .891; all the items contributed to the internal consistency and had high internal validity. Pearson correlations of DM with EDE-Q7 and BICI were significant (p<.001) and moderate-high, respectively,.384 and .522.

The Portuguese preliminary version of DM-EDAM demonstrated validity (construct and convergent) and reliability. can be used for clinical and research purposes, namely in an ongoing project we have in progress, about body image, disordered eating, gender and age.

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Alcohol and illicit drug use are highly prevalent among the homeless population. Religiosity and spirituality (RS) have been widely associated with lower substance use. However, evidence of this relationship among the homeless is still scarce.

To assess the association between RS and the use of alcohol and illicit drugs among the homeless population of a large Brazilian urban center.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in São Paulo, Brazil. Aspects such as spirituality (FACIT-Sp12), religiosity (P-DUREL), religious-spiritual coping (Brief-RCOPE), and self-applied questions about current substance use (alcohol and illicit drugs) were evaluated. Adjusted Logistic Regression models were performed.

A total of 456 homeless individuals were included, with an average age of 44.5 (SD=12.6) years. More than half of the participants used alcohol (55.7%) weekly and 34.2% used illicit drugs weekly. The adjusted Logistic Regression models identified that aspects of RS were associated with a lower propensity for alcohol and illicit drug use, whereas negative religious-spiritual coping strategies were associated with a higher propensity for the use of both.

The prevalence of alcohol and illicit drug use among participants was high. Positive RS and religious-spiritual coping were significant protective factors against the use of these substances. Conversely, negative religious-spiritual coping strategies were associated with risk factors.

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