Suchergebnisse

Background Prevalence rates of child illness accordingto parents have been found to vary greatly in thegeneral population, with even less known about childrenof military parents. Mothers are generally consideredmore informed about their children's problems thanfathers. This paper aimed to establish the prevalence ofserious illness and disability among children from militaryfamilies, noting the difference between parental reports.Methods Male serving and ex-serving personnel withchildren aged 3–16 years were invited to take part in anonline questionnaire and telephone interview based ontheir child's health. The mothers of their children wereinvited via post if the father gave permission to makecontact. Data were analysed using descriptive statisticsand Cohen's kappa.Results 378 fathers and 383 mothers provided informationfor 610 children. The vast majority of parents didnot perceive their child to have a serious illness or disability;fathers reported problems in 7.7% of their children(respiratory conditions most common), whilemothers reported problems in 6.2% ( physical health problemsrated most prevalent). A moderate agreement wasfound between parent's reports; kappa=0.51 ( p<0.001).Conclusions/implications The prevalence of seriousillnesses and disabilities is low among military childrenaccording to parent reports. Fathers were more likely todisclose a problem in their child, and these differenceswere visible in the type of problem reported also. Thisdisparity suggests mothers' and fathers' views shouldboth be considered when making decisions that involvethe child's care, in addition to clinical diagnoses.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the experiences and mental health of university students. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study consisting of an electronic survey about students' experiences and concerns during the pandemic and the associated impact. In addition to the quantitative analysis, free-text responses were extracted and analysed using a framework technique. SETTING: Queen's University in Canada and the University of Oxford in the UK. PARTICIPANTS: Undergraduate students at Queen's University and first-year undergraduate students at the University of Oxford were invited to complete the COVID-19 supplement survey. This study included data from 3013 Queen's students as the primary focus and 339 Oxford students as a secondary comparison. RESULTS: Females at Queen's reported greater adherence to government recommendations to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (91.3% vs 86.7%, χ(2) p<0.01) and were more likely to self-isolate (63.9% vs 57.0%, χ(2) p<0.01) than males. A similar trend was seen among Oxford students. Students' concerns were wide ranging including those related to their learning experience, finances and future academic and career prospects. 78.9% of Queen's students and 50.4% of first-year Oxford students reported worries about the long-term impact on their academic and job prospects. A sizeable proportion of students also reported that the pandemic negatively impacted their plans to continue at university (29.4% of Queen's, 14.2% of Oxford) and disrupted activities important to their mental well-being. Key themes identified in the qualitative component included the negative impacts of social isolation, challenging academic changes and disruption to support services and means of coping. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, findings underscore the importance of addressing areas of student concern and the aspects of student life negatively impacted by the pandemic in order to maintain student well-being and support a successful university experience.

Background: UK armed forces personnel are at risk of occupational psychological injury; they are often reluctant to seek help for such problems. Objective: We aimed to examine and describe sources of support, prevalence and associates of help-seeking among UK serving and ex-serving personnel. Method: A total of 1450 participants who self-reported a stress, emotional or mental health problem in the past 3 years were sampled from a health and wellbeing study and subsequently completed a telephone interview comprising measures of mental disorder symptoms, alcohol misuse and help-seeking behaviour. Results: Seven per cent of participants had not sought any help, 55% had accessed medical sources of support (general practitioner or mental health specialist), 46% had received formal non-medical (welfare) support and 86% had used informal support. Gender, age, perceived health, functional impairment, social support, deployment, alcohol and comorbidity impacted upon the choice of help source. Conclusions: This study found that the majority of those with perceived mental health problems sought some form of help, with over half using formal medical sources of support.