Publications by authors named "Joseph S DeLuca"

Aim: There is concern that the provision of the clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) label is stigmatizing. Prior research suggests people have nuanced reactions to feedback involving the CHR label, including a positive experience receiving feedback and improvement in negative emotions (e.g.

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Individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) report a strong desire for psychoeducation, and clinical guidelines recommend psychoeducation in early psychosis care. Although several CHR psychoeducation models have been developed, additional research is needed to establish the effectiveness of these models. The goal of this study was to conduct a pilot trial of the Brief Educational Guide for Individuals in Need (BEGIN).

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Objective: Psychotic experiences, such as hearing voices that others do not hear, being afraid of threats that others do not perceive, or believing in ideas that others find implausible can be confusing for those who face them and challenging to relate to for those who do not, leading to alienation and social exclusion. The objective of this article is to discuss how immersion in theater can enhance our understanding of human nature and facilitate a social environment that supports the recovery of individuals with psychosis.

Methods: Drawing on theories of the psychology of art and narrative psychology, this conceptual article discusses a theatrical production, a play, titled "Voices," created by a person with lived experience of voice hearing.

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Background: Since its inception, research in the clinical high-risk (CHR) phase of psychosis has included identifying and exploring the impact of relevant socio-demographic factors. Employing a narrative review approach and highlighting work from the United States, sociocultural and contextual factors potentially affecting the screening, assessment, and service utilization of youth at CHR were reviewed from the current literature.

Results: Existing literature suggests that contextual factors impact the predictive performance of widely used psychosis-risk screening tools and may introduce systemic bias and challenges to differential diagnosis in clinical assessment.

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Self-stigma has been associated with reduced accuracy of face emotion recognition in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR). Stigma may also relate to slowing of performance during cognitive tasks for which a negative stereotype is relevant. This study aimed to investigate the association of mental illness stigma with face emotion recognition among CHR individuals.

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Psychoeducation is recommended in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia and has been shown to improve satisfaction with mental health service and treatment adherence, reduce relapse and hospital readmission rates, and enhance functioning and quality of life. Youth at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) may also benefit from receiving psychoeducation as part of their treatment. The goal of this study was to conduct a scoping review to map out the existing literature on psychoeducation for CHR individuals, including content, utilization, and benefits, in order to identify areas for future research and clinical care.

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Prevention and early intervention programs have been initiated worldwide to serve youth at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis (CHR-P), who are adolescents and young adults experiencing subclinical psychosis and functional impairment. The primary goals of these efforts are to prevent or mitigate the onset of clinical psychosis, while also treating comorbid issues. It is important to consider issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in CHR-P work, especially as these programs continue to proliferate around the world.

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Resilience research has documented the ability to cope with traumatic and stressful situations and/or retain functioning given certain risk factors in the context of psychosis. In this study, we conducted the first systematic review of the literature on psychosis-like experiences (PLEs) and resilience. Fifteen articles (from 11 unique study samples) from 10 countries were included in this systematic review, with a total of 11,937 unique study participants.

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Subjective quality of life can be compromised in individuals with psychosis-risk symptoms, with poorer quality of life being associated with worse functioning and later transition to psychosis. Individuals who experience psychosis-related symptoms also tend to endorse more internalized (or self-) mental health stigma when compared to controls, potentially contributing to delays in seeking treatment and increased duration of untreated psychosis, as well as interfering with treatment engagement and retention in those already receiving care. Despite these findings, and the growing recognition for prevention in earlier phases of psychotic illness, few studies have examined the relation between psychosis-risk symptoms, internalized stigma, and subjective quality of life in a younger, help-seeking sample.

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Aim: Identification of individuals with psychosis risk (PR) through screening and specialized assessment is becoming more widespread in an effort to promote early intervention and improve recovery outcomes. PR individuals report interest in psychoeducation, though such interventions are currently lacking. Our goal was to develop a structured PR psychoeducation intervention grounded in theory and stakeholder feedback.

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Racial inequities in mental health care utilization (MHCU) are well documented. Marginalized racial groups are more likely to report psychosis-like experiences (PLEs) and are at elevated risk for racial discrimination and trauma, impacting PLE severity. Little is known about how factors associated with race impact treatment seeking among individuals reporting PLEs.

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Experiencing psychosis-spectrum symptoms is challenging to youth. Among many difficulties, internalized mental health stigma-the internalization of negative stereotypes-can lead to shame and withdrawal. The objective of this study was to better understand the correlates of internalized stigma among a clinical sample of youth with psychosis-spectrum symptoms.

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Early detection and prevention of psychosis has become an international priority. Much of this work has focused on youth presenting with attenuated symptoms of psychosis-those at Clinical High Risk for psychosis (CHR)-given their elevated probability of developing the full disorder in subsequent years. Individuals at CHR may be prone to exacerbated psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent physical isolation measures, due to heightened stress sensitivity and comorbid mental health problems.

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Objective: Qualitative research can shed light on the subjective experiences of individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis, complement quantitative research, broaden our understanding of experiencing CHR, and inform intervention development. The aim of this study was to explore life experiences of individuals at CHR through qualitative research.

Method: Participants were 37 individuals at CHR (20 male, 17 female) aged 16-34 ( = 23.

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Untreated mental health (MH) concerns have significant implications for college students. This study examined the efficacy of a video contact intervention targeting students' intentions to seek counseling. One-hundred and sixty-three college students ( = 21.

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Background: Mental health (MH) stigma is pervasive worldwide. Culturally sensitive stigma reduction programs are needed to reduce MH stigma.

Aims: To determine racial/ethnic and cultural predictors of stigma.

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Aim: Evidence supports the use of brief psychosis-spectrum screeners for identifying individuals at risk for psychosis. Screening has not been well-studied in help-seeking college samples. This study investigated the use of the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2) Atypicality Scale as a psychosis-spectrum screening tool within a university counselling centre.

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The "Illness Identity" model proposed that self-stigma impacts hope and self-esteem and subsequently leads to a cascade of negative effects on outcomes related to recovery among people diagnosed with severe mental illnesses. The purpose of the present review is to take stock of research support for the model. The citation index SCOPUS was reviewed for all papers published in peer-reviewed journals in English between 2010 and 2019 citing one of the initial 3 articles discussing the model: 111 studies met inclusion criteria and were reviewed.

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Objective: Preliminary research has suggested that mental health clinicians who work with people with severe mental illness may experience associative stigma, and the Clinician Associative Stigma Scale (CASS; Yanos, Vayshenker, DeLuca, & O'Connor, 2017) was recently developed and tested in a cross-sectional, online sample to examine this construct. The purpose of the present study was to further investigate the CASS's psychometric properties, examining associations with measures of burnout, job satisfaction, and "turnover intention" with service providers in a setting directly working with people with severe mental illness (i.e.

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Background: Mental health (MH) stigma is multidimensional and remains common in the United States and throughout the world. While sociopolitical attitudes such as right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) have emerged as strong predictors of some aspects of MH stigma, no study has assessed the relationship between RWA and multidimensional components of MH stigma, or linked this relationship to a theory of stigma.

Aims: The association between RWA and multiple stigma outcomes, including stereotypes, attributions/negative affect, social distance, microaggressions and help-seeking self-stigma was assessed controlling for covariates, including education, age, social desirability, race/ethnicity, gender, geographic location and prior contact with mental illness.

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Background: The uneven progression of mental health funding in the United States, and the way that the funding climate seems to be influenced by local and regional differences, raises the issue of what factors, including stigma, may impact mental health funding decisions. Criticisms that mental health stigma research is too individually-focused have led researchers to consider how broader, macro-level forms of stigma - such as structural stigma - intersect with micro-level forms of individual stigma. While some studies suggest that macro and micro stigma levels are distinct processes, other studies suggest a more synergistic relationship between structural and individual stigma.

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Stigma toward general criminal offenders has been found to be particularly salient among community members who identify as politically conservative; however, less is known about how political identification relates to stigma toward sex offenders. This is a particularly important area of inquiry, given that criminal jurisprudence and politics legitimatize stigmatizing labels attributed to sex offenders through laws and policies that apply specifically to this group. A nonrandom sample ( N = 518) of participants living in the United States was recruited for this survey study.

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