Persistent Maternal Mental Health Disorders and Toddler Neurodevelopment at 18 Months: Longitudinal Follow-up of a Low-Income South African Cohort.

One of the biggest threats to early childhood development in Africa is poor maternal mental health. The present study reports on the relationships between clinical diagnoses of persistent maternal mental health disorders (at 3- and/or 6- and 18-month post-term age) and toddler neurodevelopment at 18 months of age. Eighty-three mother-toddler dyads from low socio-economic status settings in Cape Town, South Africa, were included.

Maternal mental health and infant neurodevelopment at 6 months in a low-income South African cohort.

Maternal mental health disorders and the adverse consequences for infant neurodevelopment have received substantial research attention in high-income countries over the past five decades. In Africa, where relatively little work has been done on this topic, researchers have largely focused on infant physical health outcomes. This longitudinal study investigated the neurodevelopment of infants at 6 months post-term with exposure to mothers with a clinical diagnosis of persistent mental health disorders residing in low-income communities in Cape Town, South Africa.

Early motor behavior of infants exposed to maternal mental health disorders - A South African perspective.

Introduction: Over the past five decades the bulk of research on exposure to maternal mental health disorders and infant neurodevelopment has been generated in high-income countries. The current study included infants, residing in low-income communities in South Africa, born to mothers with a history of psychiatric disorders.

Aim: To assess the motor behavior of 10- to 20-week-old infants exposed to maternal mental health disorders, and a subgroup of infants with prenatal psychotropic medication exposure.

The Shared Pleasure Paradigm: A study in an observational birth cohort in South Africa.

Mother-infant dyads in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) may be exposed to a range of factors associated with suboptimal development. Optimal infant development is likely supported by synchronicity in the early mother-infant relationship, but limited corroborative research is available in LMICs. The Drakenstein Child Health Study (DCHS) provided an opportunity to study this synchronicity and its associations in South Africa.

Maternal Shared Pleasure, Infant Withdrawal, and Developmental Outcomes in a High Risk Setting in South Africa.

Infants in lower middle income countries are often exposed to early adversities which may lead to suboptimal caregiving environments and place them at risk of not achieving their developmental potential. Synchrony and positive engagement in the mother-infant relationship plays a critical role in buffering the impact of early adversity. Shared Pleasure (SP) is considered a marker of high intensity positive interaction and may hold a promise of improving developmental outcomes.

Pregnancy outcomes, early separation, and psychiatric relapse experienced by South African women with peripartum psychosis: a descriptive exploration.

The peripartum is associated with increased incidence of severe mental illness (SMI), a greater occurrence of psychotic symptoms and psychiatric admissions. This study aimed to describe the psychiatric, medical and psycho-social risk factors affecting South African mothers who experienced peripartum psychosis. Using a prospective, descriptive design, we conducted a detailed interview and supplementary information was collected by review of clinical records.

Associations Between Neonatal Cry Acoustics and Visual Attention During the First Year.

It has been suggested that early cry parameters are connected to later cognitive abilities. The present study is the first to investigate whether the acoustic features of infant cry are associated with cognitive development already during the first year, as measured by oculomotor orienting and attention disengagement. Cry sounds for acoustic analyses (fundamental frequency; F0) were recorded in two neonatal cohorts at the age of 0-8 days (Tampere, Finland) or at 6 weeks (Cape Town, South Africa).

Demographic and clinical profile of patients utilising a transitional care intervention in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Background: The World Health Organization's action plan for 2020 has identified the need for service-based data to motivate for more appropriate community-based services. To date, there is no published data from step-up or step-down facilities in South Africa.

Aim: To describe the demographic and clinical profile of all patients admitted to New Beginnings between 01 January 2011 and 31 December 2015.

Burnout and job satisfaction of nursing staff in a South African acute mental health setting.

Background: Psychiatric nurses constitute a fundamental part of the mental health care system in South Africa. However, high levels of burnout and job dissatisfaction among nursing staff have been associated with reduced empathy and quality of care, and poor service delivery. Stikland Psychiatric Hospital is a state psychiatric hospital situated in Belville and provides all levels of psychiatric care to a large part of the Cape metro region.

Erratum: The validation of the visual screening tool for anxiety disorders and depression in hypertension and/or diabetes.

No abstract available.

Cross-cultural analysis of attention disengagement times supports the dissociation of faces and patterns in the infant brain.

Infants are slower to disengage from faces than non-face patterns when distracted by novel competing stimuli. While this perceptual predilection for faces is well documented, its universality and mechanisms in relation to other aspects of attention are poorly understood. We analysed attention disengagement times for faces and non-face patterns in a large sample of 6-to 9-month-old infants (N = 637), pooled from eye tracking studies in socioculturally diverse settings (Finland, Malawi, South Africa).

Revisiting the African origins of attachment research-50 years on from Ainsworth: A descriptive review.

Culture plays a significant role in the variations observed in the manifestation, expression, and meaning of attachment behaviors. Africa is home to multiple cultures, with distinct organizations of caregiving relationships underlying the development of attachment. This review aims to consolidate knowledge about African attachment by describing studies of infant attachment conducted in Africa since Mary Ainsworth's Ugandan findings in 1967.

The impact of a psychiatry clinical rotation on the attitude of South African final year medical students towards mental illness.

Background: Stigmatising attitudes of health care professionals towards mental illness can impede treatment provided for psychiatric patients. Many studies have reported undergraduate training to be a critical period for changing the attitudes of medical students, and one particularly valuable intervention strategy involves time spent in a clinical psychiatric rotation. In South Africa, medical students are exposed to a clinical rotation in psychiatry but there is no evidence to show whether this has an effect on attitudes toward mental illness.

The development of the visual screening tool for anxiety disorders and depression: Addressing barriers to screening for depression and anxiety disorders in hypertension and/or diabetes.

 There is a lack of screening tools for common mental disorders that can be applied across cultures, languages and levels of education in people with diabetes and hypertension. Aim: To develop a visual screening tool for depression and anxiety disorders that is applicable across cultures and levels of education. Setting: Participants were purposively recruited from two not-for-profit organisations and two public health facilities - a maternal mental health unit and a primary health care centre.

An Attempt to Stem the Tide: Exploring the Effect of a 90-Day Transitional Care Intervention on Readmissions to an Acute Male Psychiatric Unit in South Africa.

Introduction: Pressure on inpatient beds often results in premature discharges, which may precipitate early readmission. This has prompted an increased interest in transitional care interventions to bridge the gap between in- and outpatient care to reduce such readmissions. Our study aimed to assess the effect of a Transitional Care Service (TCS) on readmission rates in a high pressure inpatient service which utilizes a premature discharge policy to address bed pressures.

The effect of an occupational therapy mental health day treatment centre on the use of inpatient services in the Western Cape, South Africa.

The aim of this study was to determine whether attendance at an occupational therapy-led day treatment centre for mental health care users affects the use of inpatient services in South Africa. A retrospective pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental study design was used to compare admissions and days spent in hospital during the 24 months before and after attendance at the centre, using the hospital's electronic records. Total population sampling yielded data for 44 mental health care users who made first contact with the service between July 2009 and June 2010.

Brief Report: A Randomized Control Trial Assessing the Influence of a Telephone-based Intervention on Readmissions for Patients with Severe Mental Illness in a Developing Country.

Whilst comprehensive post-discharge interventions have been successful in reducing readmissions in our setting, they are possibly not sustainable due to limited resources. We assessed the impact of a more cost-effective telephone-based intervention on readmissions in a developing country over 12 months. 100 patients with severe mental illness were randomized to facilitated care or treatment as usual.

The identification of novel genetic variants associated with antipsychotic treatment response outcomes in first-episode schizophrenia patients.

Background: Although antipsychotics are integral to the treatment of schizophrenia, drug efficacy varies between patients. Although it has been shown that antipsychotic treatment response outcomes are heritable, our understanding of the genetic factors that are involved remains incomplete. Therefore, this study aims to use an unbiased scan of the genome to identify the genetic variants contributing toward antipsychotic treatment response outcomes.

Facial affect recognition and exit examination performance in medical students: a prospective exploratory study.

Background: Facial affect recognition (FAR) abilities underpin emotional intelligence (EI). The latter is suggested to predict academic success and to be important for clinician-patient interaction. It is therefore of interest to investigate the possible association between FAR and academic performance in undergraduate medical students.

The rise of assertive community interventions in South Africa: a randomized control trial assessing the impact of a modified assertive intervention on readmission rates; a three year follow-up.

Background: Many countries have over the last few years incorporated mental health assertive interventions in an attempt to address the repercussions of deinstitutionalization. Recent publications have failed to duplicate the positive outcomes reported initially which has cast doubt on the future of these interventions. We previously reported on 29 patients from a developing country who completed 12 months in an assertive intervention which was a modified version of the international assertive community treatment model.

Patterns of variation influencing antipsychotic treatment outcomes in South African first-episode schizophrenia patients.

Aim: Many antipsychotic pharmacogenetics studies have been performed examining candidate genes or known variation; however, our understanding of the genetic factors involved in antipsychotic pharmacogenetic traits remains limited.

Materials & Methods: A well-characterized cohort of first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients was used to identify a subset of nonresponders and responders to antipsychotic treatment for exome sequencing (n = 11). The variation observed in the responders and nonresponders was subsequently compared and a prioritization strategy was employed to identify variants for genotyping in the entire FES cohort (n = 103) as well as an additional Xhosa schizophrenia cohort (n = 222).

Next-generation sequencing of pharmacogenes: a critical analysis focusing on schizophrenia treatment.

Introduction: Because of the unmet needs of current pharmacotherapy for schizophrenia, antipsychotic pharmacogenetic research is of utmost importance. However, to date, few clinically applicable antipsychotic pharmacogenomic alleles have been identified. Nonetheless, next-generation sequencing technologies are expected to aid in the identification of clinically significant variants for this complex phenotype.

Retrospective review of trends in assaults and seclusion at an acute psychiatric ward over a 5-year period.

In developing countries such as South Africa, not much is known about the prevalence of assaults and seclusion occurring in mental health wards over time. Here, we describe a 5-year trend in assaults and seclusions, stratified by gender, at Stikland Hospital, South Africa. A retrospective review of clinical records of patients admitted to the acute psychiatric admission wards at Stikland and involved in assault and secluded was undertaken between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2010.

Association of MB-COMT polymorphisms with schizophrenia-susceptibility and symptom severity in an African cohort.

The catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene is an attractive schizophrenia candidate gene, encoding a catabolic dopamine enzyme. The enzyme exists as two distinct isoforms, with the membrane bound enzyme (i.e.

Symptom recurrence following intermittent treatment in first-episode schizophrenia successfully treated for 2 years: a 3-year open-label clinical study.

Objective: An unanswered question in the management of schizophrenia is how long antipsychotic treatment should be continued after a single psychotic episode. In this study, we assessed the rates of symptom recurrence with intermittent treatment in patients with a first episode of DSM-IV-defined schizophrenia or related illness after 2 years of successful continuous treatment. We also investigated antecedents of recurrence, as well as demographic and baseline clinical predictors of early recurrence, and we compared the psychopathology of the recurrence episode with that of the first episode.