Publications by authors named "Yıldız Akvardar"

Hazardous alcohol use tends to be more prominent among higher education students. The COVID-19 pandemic severely altered student life, raising questions on its impact on students' alcohol use patterns. The current study examined cross-country variations in drinking behaviors (weekly drinking and binge drinking), and the extent to which these variations were associated with containment measures implemented during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Objective: This study aimed to draw a general picture of the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) -pandemic on the life of higher-education students in İstanbul, with specific emphasis on the relationship between students' social support systems, health-risk behaviors, and mental/academic well-being.

Methods: A total of 2583 higher-education students from different fields of study participated in an online survey gathering information from several domains, including available social networks, support-seeking attitudes, substance use patterns, physical activity levels, academic stress, academic satisfaction, and psychological well-being during the pandemic.

Results: Our findings pointed to major changes in students' life circumstances and daily routines during COVID-19, including a significant decrease in contact with friends, overall substance use, and physical activity as well as high levels of depression, academic stress, and academic dissatisfaction.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study looked at how the COVID-19 pandemic affected students' mental health, especially their feelings of sadness.
  • Researchers examined data from students in 26 countries and analyzed how government actions influenced these feelings.
  • They found that school closures and stay-at-home rules made students feel sadder, but money support from governments didn't help with those feelings.
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The concept of food addiction (FA) has become central in recent years in understanding the psychological etiology of obesity. In this matched case-control study from Turkey, it was aimed to examine the prevalence of FA and related risk factors in four consecutive body mass index (BMI) categories. The case group consisted of pre-operative bariatric surgery patients with BMI over 35.

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Introduction: The aims of the present study were 1) to identify the major psychosocial challenges faced by students of a university in Istanbul, during the initial period of the COVID-19 outbreak, 2) to assess how these interacted with their level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward COVID-19 and the related health measures in place.

Methods: As part of an international research, a total of 2583 university students from Istanbul participated in an online survey, which included questions in several domains including their studies and daily life before and after the outbreak, their concerns and worries about the pandemic, their level of knowledge on COVID-19, their views on the policies implemented by the government and their institution, their attitude and practices toward the protective measures.

Results: Majority of the students reported to suffer from financial adversities due to the outbreak.

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Early marriages (EM) adversely affect women's physical and mental health, education, and social status. The current study aimed to analyze effects of EM through the thoughts, experiences, and suggestions of women who were married under the age of eighteen in Istanbul, Turkey, and the key informants (e.g.

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Background: University students are a risk group for heavy substance use and the experience of various potentially severe negative substance use consequences which may impact on their health, social, and academic functioning. Whilst the experience of negative consequences of substance use is well understood in North American student samples, there is little data on these experiences in European students. In order to develop effective harm prevention and reduction interventions for students' substance use, there needs to be an understanding of the types of consequences experienced in European student samples.

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Objective: Domestic violence (DV) is defined as all kinds of abusive behaviors between spouses or relatives living in the same house. Domestic violence is most commonly directed towards women and children. This study aims to review the extent of domestic violence among women consulting to psychiatric outpatient clinic, and to identify its relation with sociodemographic risk factors and psychological symptoms.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examines the use of non-prescribed prescription sedatives and sleeping pills (NPPSSP) among university students, highlighting its significance as a public health concern.
  • The research analyzed data from 4482 students across Europe, revealing that many students believe their peers use and approve of NPPSSP more than they do personally.
  • Higher perceived peer use and approval were linked to increased personal usage and acceptance of NPPSSP, suggesting that addressing social norms may help reduce this behavior among students.
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Objective: Perceptions of peer behavior and attitudes exert considerable social pressure on young adults to use substances. This study investigated whether European students perceive their peers' cannabis use and approval of cannabis use to be higher than their own personal behaviors and attitudes, and whether estimations of peer use and attitudes are associated with personal use and attitudes.

Method: University students (n = 4,131) from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom completed an online survey as part of the Social Norms Intervention for Polysubstance usE in students (SNIPE) Project, a feasibility study of a web-based normative feedback intervention for substance use.

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Introduction: Research conducted in North America suggests that students tend to overestimate tobacco use among their peers. This perceived norm may impact personal tobacco use. It remains unclear how these perceptions influence tobacco use among European students.

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Objective: The objective of this study was to explore perceptions of peer substance use and related attitudes among European students. Challenging perceptions about peer substance use has become the basis of a form of prevention and intervention known as the social norms approach, which can be delivered using personalized online feedback. This article reports baseline alcohol use and attitudes data for university students across Europe collected as part of the Social Norms Intervention for the prevention of Polydrug usE project (Project SNIPE).

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Article Synopsis
  • The overview evaluates psychiatric epidemiology studies in Turkey from 2000 to 2012, highlighting their findings and methodological limitations.
  • Key issues include studies being mainly academic, lack of systematic research accumulation, and insufficient focus on social conflicts, resulting in stagnation of this research area.
  • The conclusion points to the potential for future studies to provide valuable contributions by adopting contemporary methods and addressing public health issues.
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Background: The Social Norms Approach, with its focus on positive behaviour and its consensus orientation, is a health promotion intervention of relevance to the context of a Health Promoting University. In particular, the approach could assist with addressing excessive alcohol consumption.

Aim: This article aims to discuss the link between the Social Norms Approach and the Health Promoting University, and analyse estimations of peer alcohol consumption among European university students.

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Background: Incorrect perceptions of high rates of peer alcohol and tobacco use are predictive of increased personal use in student populations. Correcting misperceptions by providing feedback has been shown to be an effective intervention for reducing licit drug use. It is currently unknown if social norms interventions are effective in preventing and reducing illicit drug use in European students.

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Objective: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the largest cause of morbidity and mortality in Turkey and in the World. Heart of Balçova Project is a community- based health promotion project that aims to reduce CVD incidence and prevalence through risk factor modification in the individual and population level. This paper presents results of the baseline survey that aimed to define CVD risk factors and risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD) in the Balçova population.

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Aim: To determine the primary health care working general practitioners' knowledge, attitude and behavior towards alcohol use disorders.

Method: In this descriptive and cross-sectional study 135 general practitioners (GPs) completed the questionnaire.

Results: Pre and post graduate education on alcohol use disorders is low (25.

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Background: Psychotic symptoms, psychotic-like experiences and schizotypal signs can emerge in different socio-cultural circumstances and cause clinical or non-clinical pictures. Transient or self-limiting psychotic-like experiences are more prevalent than clinical psychotic disorders. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of psychotic symptoms in an urban area.

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Dramatic changes in workplace structure and environment have increased the importance of psychosocial factors and job insecurity in working life. Job insecurity is shown to have a negative impact on mental and physical health. Health care transformation in Turkey increases the threat of job insecurity for many workers in the health care sector.

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The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of panic attack (PA) and panic disorder (PD) in patients with schizophrenia and detect the clinical features. Forty-nine patients with schizophrenia were included in the study. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Clinical Global Impression (CGI), Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (ESRS) and Bandelow Panic and Agoraphobia Rating Scale were administered.

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Decreased quality of life is often an important cause or consequence of psychiatric illness, and needs to be included in a comprehensive treatment plan. The authors aimed to identify how psychiatric patients characterize the quality of their lives compared to others who are suffering from a chronic physical illness (diabetes) and healthy individuals. A total of 100 psychiatric patients were recruited from Dokuz Eylül University Psychiatry Department outpatient clinic.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to establish population norms for the SF-36 health survey and examine how its health domains relate to demographic and socioeconomic factors among urban residents in Turkey.
  • - Conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,279 selected participants from Izmir, the research found that physical health scales correlated with age and gender, while mental health scales showed weaker associations.
  • - Results indicated that the SF-36 is effective in assessing health status and can be used to explore health disparities in Turkey and similar developing nations, with women generally reporting poorer health than men.
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Objective: The clinical overlaps between schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) seem to be related to thought disorders involving obsessions, overvalued ideas, and delusions. Overvalued ideas are beliefs falling in between obsessions and delusions and are stronger than obsessions but weaker than delusions. The goal of the present study was to compare patients with OCD to those with schizophrenia in terms of cognitive functions and to relate cognition and overvalued ideas in OCD.

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Objective: To assess the factorial structure, reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), a 240-item, self-report, paper-and-pencil test, and true-false format inventory based on Cloninger's psychobiological model of personality. It measures the four higher-order temperament dimensions and three character dimensions.

Method: Using samples consisting of 470 healthy volunteers and 544 psychiatric patients, psychometric features were explored.

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