Responding to Repeated Disasters: Time to Recovery in Public Health Workers.

Objective: In times of repeated disaster events, including natural disasters and pandemics, public health workers must recover rapidly to respond to subsequent events. Understanding predictors of time to recovery and developing predictive models of time to recovery can aid planning and management.

Methods: We examined 681 public health workers (21-72 y, M(standard deviation [SD]) = 48.

Predicting clinically significant response to primary care treatment for depression from electronic health records of veterans.

Objective: To reduce delays in referral to specialty mental health care, we evaluated clinical prediction models estimating the likelihood of response to primary care treatment of depression in the VA healthcare system.

Methods: We included patients with a primary care depression diagnosis between October 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017, an initial PHQ-9 score ≥ 10 within 30 days, a follow-up PHQ-9 score within 2-8 months, and no specialty mental health care within three months prior to depression diagnosis. We evaluated eight ordinary least squares regression models, each with a different procedure for selecting predictors of percentage change in PHQ-9 score from baseline to follow-up.

Exposure to Workplace Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Intern Physicians.

Importance: Physicians are exposed to traumatic events during their work, but the impact and outcomes of these exposures are understudied.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and associations of work-related trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among a cohort of resident physicians in their internship year of training.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study involved physicians entering internship at US residency programs nationwide in 2018.

Disaster Behavioral Health Research Involving Military Facilities and Populations after Mass Violence: Insights from the 2013 Washington Navy Yard Shooting.

Research on disaster behavioral health presents significant methodological challenges. Challenges are even more complex for research on mass violence events that involve military members, families, and communities, due to the cultural and logistical considerations of working with this population. The current article aims to inform and educate on this specialized area of research, by presenting a case study on the experience of designing and conducting disaster behavioral health research after a mass violence event in a military setting: the 2013 mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, in Washington, D.

Longitudinal Study of Hurricane Preparedness Behaviors: Influence of Collective Efficacy.

Objective: Community characteristics, such as collective efficacy, a measure of community strength, can affect behavioral responses following disasters. We measured collective efficacy 1 month before multiple hurricanes in 2005, and assessed its association to preparedness 9 months following the hurricane season.

Methods: Participants were 631 Florida Department of Health workers who responded to multiple hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.

Assessment of Paid Childbearing and Family Leave Policies for Administrative Staff at Top US Medical Schools.

This quality improvement study reviews the human resources policies for childbearing and family leave for administrative staff at 12 leading US medical schools.

Developing an Advocacy Curriculum: Lessons Learned from a National Survey of Psychiatric Residency Programs.

Objective: Advocacy by physicians, defined as a physician's public support for causes, policies, or actions that advance patient health, is increasingly recognized as a professional responsibility as well as a core competency in medical training. The authors describe a survey they conducted on advocacy curricula in psychiatric residency training programs across the USA, from their vantage point as members of an advocacy council within a medical professional organization.

Methods: Between Fall 2016 and Winter 2018, psychiatry residency programs with advocacy curricula were identified through personal communications with stakeholders as well as a blast email to the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training.

Underappreciated Bias Created by Measurement Error in Risk Factor Assessment-A Case Study of No Safe Level of Alcohol Consumption.

This quality improvement study assesses the potential consequences of systematic underreporting of alcohol use on the observed results in a recent, well-publicized study.

Increased Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Veterans With Mental Illness.

Background: Although previous studies have demonstrated an association between various mental illnesses and cardio-cerebrovascular disease (CVD) risk, few have compared the strength of association between different mental illnesses and CVD risk.

Methods And Results: We assessed the association of psychiatric diagnoses (psychosis, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder) with major CVD outcomes (CVD events and CVD mortality) over 5 years, using a national primary prevention cohort of military veterans receiving care in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Data were linked from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Death Index databases.

Recognizing Trauma In The Healer.

A patient's painful death leads a physician to ponder the traumatic nature of the healer's role and the need to promote resilience in medicine.

Peritraumatic distress: A review and synthesis of 15 years of research.

Context: Although the subjective trauma exposure criterion was removed from the DSM-5 criteria set for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), emerging literature suggests that peritraumatic distress may be useful in predicting outcomes after exposure to a stressful event.

Method: We conducted a comprehensive review of the literature examining the association between peritraumatic distress and PTSD and other psychiatric outcomes. The 57 studies herein varied in both experimental design and target populations.

Prospective association between major depressive disorder and leukocyte telomere length over two years.

Background: Reduced leukocyte telomere length (LTL) has been found to be associated with multiple common age-related diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. A link has also been suggested between shortened LTL and major depressive disorder (MDD), suggesting that MDD may be a disease of accelerated aging. This prospective, longitudinal study examined the association between depression diagnosis at baseline and change in LTL over two years in a well-characterized sample of N = 117 adults with or without MDD at baseline, using rigorous entry criteria.