The association of personal, parental, school and community factors with depressive symptoms among a sample of Colombian students of ages 9 to 12 years.

Few studies have examined how the personal characteristics of students, together with factors from their local social environments and communities, affect students living in generally high levels of social disruption. We examined the influence that personal characteristics as well as factors from the local social environments and communities may have on Colombian students' levels of depressive symptoms shortly after the end of the of armed conflict. Data were collected from 710 students attending the fifth grade in a random sample of elementary schools in the province of Sucre in Colombia.

Somatic and Depressive Symptoms Among Children From Latin America and the English-Speaking Caribbean.

Background: The extent to which depression is associated with somatic complaints in children from the English-speaking Caribbean and Latin America is not well established.

Objective: We sought to explore the association between depressive and somatic symptoms among children from the English-speaking Caribbean and Latin America, while accounting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, cultural background, and anxiety score.

Method: 1541 elementary school children, ages 9-12 years, from the English-speaking Caribbean and Latin America completed the Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (ARDS), the Numeric 0-10 Anxiety Self-Report Scale and the Children's Somatic Symptom Inventory-24 (CSSI-24).

Mental health systems in six Caribbean small island developing states: a comparative situational analysis.

Background: Small island developing states (SIDS) have particular mental health system needs due to their remoteness and narrow resource base. We conducted situational analyses to support mental health system strengthening in six SIDS: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos Islands.

Methods: The situational analyses covered five domains: 1.

Antipsychotics for schizophrenia spectrum disorders with catatonic symptoms.

Background: Whilst antipsychotics are the mainstay of treatment for schizophrenia spectrum disorders, there have been numerous attempts to identify biomarkers that can predict treatment response. One potential marker may be psychomotor abnormalities, including catatonic symptoms. Early studies suggested that catatonic symptoms predict poor treatment response, whilst anecdotal reports of rare adverse events have been invoked against antipsychotics.

Parenting Styles, Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Child/Adolescent.

Objective: To analyse the possible direct and interactive associations of sex, age and parenting styles with symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 710 students ranging from 8 to 13 years (mean age 108 years [ 075]), the most of them males ( = 422 594%), completed three screening instruments: a parenting practices scale and two self-reports for evaluating anxiety and depressive symptoms. Two hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed.

Global Prevalence of Young-Onset Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: Reliable prevalence estimates are lacking for young-onset dementia (YOD), in which symptoms of dementia start before the age of 65 years. Such estimates are needed for policy makers to organize appropriate health care.

Objective: To determine the global prevalence of YOD.

A psycho-social analysis of depression, anxiety and student engagement: Effects of parenting practices.

The extent to which students' level of depressive and anxiety symptoms and student engagement were predicted by parental emotional support, monitoring and harsh parenting was investigated using a series of multiple regression analyses. Grade six students from public primary schools ( = 293; 49% females, 51% males; mean age = 10 years) in Barbados completed the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale, a Parenting Questionnaire and an adapted Student Engagement scale. Students' level of depressive symptoms were predicted by parental emotional support and harsh parenting, but not by parental monitoring.

The association of perceived neighbourhood factors and social class with depressive symptoms among Grade 6 elementary school children in Jamaica.

This project investigated the association between Jamaican school-age children's perception of their communities and their levels of depressive symptoms. A cross-sectional survey of sixth-grade students from schools in Kingston, Jamaica was conducted. Results of correlational analyses indicated that there were significant associations between neighbourhood factors and depressive symptoms while multiple regression analyses suggested that neigbourhood factors and social class were predictive of children's depressive symptoms.

Benzodiazepines for catatonia in people with schizophrenia or other serious mental illnesses.

Background: Catatonia is a debilitating disorder of movement and volition associated with schizophrenia and some other mental illnesses. People with catatonia are more likely to require hospitalisation and highly supervised care than those without the disorder. They also have an increased risk of secondary complications such as pneumonia, malnutrition and dehydration.

Patterns of depressive symptoms among younger elderly (60-74 years old) and older elderly (≥75 years old) in Jamaica.

Objectives: We sought to explore factors associated with depressive symptom severity among older persons (≥60 years of age) and to compare the depressive symptoms commonly experienced by older elderly (≥75 years) with those commonly experienced by younger elderly (<75 years).

Design: Secondary analysis was conducted on data from a nationally representative survey.

Setting: Four parishes in Jamaica.

Validation of the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale in a Caribbean student sample.

Background: Research on depression among Caribbean children has been limited by a lack of valid and reliable measures. We addressed this problem by exploring the internal consistency reliability and the concurrent and discriminant validity of the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (KADS) among a wide cross-section of the student population attending elementary schools in Jamaica and Barbados.

Methods: Students enrolled in grade 6 in a cross-section of schools in Jamaica and Barbados were invited to participate in the study.

Antenatal depressive symptoms in Jamaica associated with limited perceived partner and other social support: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Antenatal depression is associated with adverse maternal and infant well-being. However, compared to postpartum depression, it has been less frequently explored globally or in Jamaica. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of, and factors associated with, antenatal depressive symptoms among Jamaican women in order to inform policy and build interventions that could improve their management and reduce their negative consequences.

Alcohol use, depression, and life satisfaction among older persons in Jamaica.

Background: We aimed to determine the prevalence of alcohol use among older Jamaicans as well as to explore among this population the relationships between alcohol use and: age, sex, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction. Although the nature of these relationships among the proposed study population were uncertain, in other settings alcohol use has tended to decline with increasing age, occur more commonly among men than women, and show non-linear relationships with depressive symptoms and life satisfaction.

Methods: Data gathered by two-stage cluster sampling for a nationally representative health and lifestyle survey of 2,943 community-dwelling older Jamaicans, aged 60 to 103 years, were subjected to secondary analysis using the Student's t-test and χ 2 test as appropriate.

Neighbourhood factors and depression among adolescents in four Caribbean countries.

Background: Past research suggests that perceived neighbourhood conditions may influence adolescents' emotional health. Relatively little research has been conducted examining the association of perceived neighbourhood conditions with depressive symptoms among Caribbean adolescents. This project examines the association of perceived neighbourhood conditions with levels of depressive symptoms among adolescents in Jamaica, the Bahamas, St.

Current research on transcultural psychiatry in the Anglophone Caribbean: epistemological, public policy, and epidemiological challenges.

In this article, we review recent research on mental health in the Caribbean. Three major themes emerge: (a) the effects of colonialism on the Caribbean psyche; (b) decolonization of psychiatric public policy, including innovative treatment approaches, deinstitutionalization, and community and policy responses to mental health issues; and (c) the nature and epidemiology of psychiatric pathology among contemporary Caribbean people, with particular focus on migration, genetic versus social causation of psychosis and personality disorders, and mechanisms of resilience and social capital. Caribbean transcultural psychiatry illustrates the principles of equipoise unique to developing countries that protect the wellness and continued survival of postcolonial Caribbean people.

The prevalence and associated demographic factors of dementia from a cross-sectional community survey in Kingston, Jamaica.

Objectives: Using a cross-sectional community survey, the authors aimed to estimate the prevalence of dementia among a sample of older Jamaicans and to identify associated demographic factors.

Methods: From February to July 2010, persons of age ≥60 years were randomly selected from two communities in Kingston, Jamaica and screened with the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE). All MMSE-positive participants and an equal number of matched MMSE-negative participants underwent definitive diagnostic evaluation for dementia using the Clinical and Diagnostic Assessment Procedure for Dementia.

Locus of control, depression and quality of life among persons with sickle cell disease in Jamaica.

This study explored how locus of control (LOC), depression and quality of life (QOL) interplay in patients with sickle cell disease. One hundred and forty-three sickle cell clinic patients with consecutive clinic consultations completed the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control and Short Factor 36 (SF-36) scales as well as the Beck Depression Inventory. Participants in this study had higher scores on the "chance", "other people" and "internal" domains of LOC than persons with a number of other chronic illnesses in a previous study.

Parenting and depressive symptoms among adolescents in four Caribbean societies.

Background: The strategies that parents use to guide and discipline their children may influence their emotional health. Relatively little research has been conducted examining the association of parenting practices to depressive symptoms among Caribbean adolescents. This project examines the association of parenting styles to levels of depressive symptoms among adolescents in Jamaica, the Bahamas, St.

Zuclopenthixol acetate for acute schizophrenia and similar serious mental illnesses.

Background: Medication used for acute aggression in psychiatry must have rapid onset of effect, low frequency of administration and low levels of adverse effects. Zuclopenthixol acetate is said to have these properties.

Objectives: To estimate the clinical effects of zuclopenthixol acetate for the management of acute aggression or violence thought to be due to serious mental illnesses, in comparison to other drugs used to treat similar conditions.

Education and employment levels among Jamaican patients newly diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Background: Comparisons between persons with bipolar disorder and those with schizophrenia are not well researched in the Caribbean.

Aims: To compare the educational and occupational attainments in Jamaicans diagnosed with these two disorders.

Methods: Data on diagnosis, educational level, type of employment and other basic socio-demographic variables were collected from Jamaican hospital patients who were newly diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Benzodiazepines for catatonia in people with schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses.

Background: Catatonia is a debilitating disorder of movement and volition associated with schizophrenia and some other mental disorders. People in a catatonic state have increased risk of secondary complications such as pneumonia, malnutrition and dehydration. The mainstay of treatment has been drug therapies and electroconvulsive therapy.

Internalizing stigma associated with mental illness: findings from a general population survey in Jamaica.

Objectives: The culture of stigma associated with mental illness is particularly intense when persons who are normally victims of that stigmatization (mentally ill persons and their family members) themselves act negatively toward others whom they associate with mental illness. We attempt to determine the extent of this internalization and assimilation of stigmatizing attitudes, cognitions, and behaviors in persons who are at risk for such stigmatization in Jamaica.

Methods: Data from a 2006 national survey on mental health were analyzed.