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Completed projects 

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Theme 4  Child maltreatment - project 0

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iCAN e-pamphlets

One of first priorities identified by the 'Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress' was to create easily accessible information in several languages for adults who have experienced childhood trauma around the world.

iCAN e-pamphlets were developed in 9 languages, find them under products: here.

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Theme 6.1  Global crises - COVID-19 > project 1

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1. C19 MentalHealthNet

The COVID-19 Mental Health Research Network 

Project leaders: Soraya Seedat & Nancy Kassam-Adams

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Project group: Natasha Kitchin (natashak@sun.ac.za), Nancy Kassam-Adams, Soraya Seedat, Ulrich Schnyder, Miranda Olff.

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The Global Collaboration of Traumatic Stress is collecting information on COVID-19 related mental health research that is being conducted or planned around the world. The aim of this project is to offer opportunities for collaboration, encourage sharing of resources (and data), and promote interchange amongst researchers in this area. 

 

The Global Collaboration has particular interest in facilitating multi-country and cross-cultural research and interchange, and in encouraging research that addresses the experiences of vulnerable populations. 

Read more and find the network here.

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Theme 6.1  Global crises - COVID-19 > projects 2A

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2A. Traumatic Stress and Adversity Faced by COVID-19 Frontline Healthcare Workers and Mental Healthcare Providers

Project leader:  Julian Ford

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Study A – Text Mining Approach

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Project group: Julian Ford, Miranda Olff, Cherie Armour, Jon Elhai, Davide Marengo.

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Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals are exposed to extreme hazards and workplace stressors. Social media postings by physicians and nurses related to COVID-19 from January 21 to June 1, 2020 were obtained from the Reddit website. Topic modeling via Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) using a machine-learning approach was performed on 1723 documents, each posted in a unique Reddit discussion. We selected the optimal number of topics using a heuristic approach based on examination of the rate of perplexity change (RPC) across LDA models. A two-step multiple linear regression was done to identify differences across time and between nurses versus physicians. Prevalent topics included excessive workload, positive emotional expression and collegial support, anger and frustration, testing positive for COVID-19 and treatment, use of personal protective equipment, impacts on healthcare jobs, disruption of medical procedures, and general healthcare issues. Nurses' posts initially reflected concern about workload, personal danger, safety precautions, and emotional support to their colleagues. Physicians posted initially more often than nurses about technical aspects of the coronavirus disease, medical equipment, and treatment. Differences narrowed over time: nurses increasingly made technical posts, while physicians' posts increasingly were in the personal domain, suggesting a convergence of the professions over time.

 

• Ford JD, Marengo D, Olff M, Armour C, Elhai JD, Almquist Z, Spiro ES. Temporal trends in health worker social media communication during the COVID-19 pandemic., Res Nurs Health. 2022 Sep 19. doi: 10.1002/nur.22266. 

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Theme 6.1  Global crises -COVID-19 > projects 5

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5. Posttraumatic adjustment in nurses

Project leader: Prof Dr Judith Daniels (j.k.daniels@rug.nl)

Project group: Judith Daniels, Astrid Lampe, Birgit Kleim, and others. Please contact Dr Daniels if interested to join.

 

Aims and method

Nurses are at the frontline of the current pandemic. They often have to handle emotionally impactful situations and at times make decisions that are against their moral judgements. We will assess the impact this has on their mental health and how the adjust following the peak of the crisis

It will be longitudinal online study with 3 assessment time points: after the local peak in Covid cases, 3 months later, and 6 months later.

Ideally, all nurses of the clinic would receive the invitation via their work email. We will have control groups (nurses in maternity etc) to compare to nurses in ICU/oncology etc. The questionnaire will take approx. 15 minutes per time point.

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Results

The team has enrolled over 800 people in the first time point assessment and have started with the first subjects in the third time point. Monitoring attrition over time.

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If you are interested in learning more about these projects, please contact Judith Daniels.

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Theme 6.1  Global crises -COVID-19 > projects 6

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6. REACH for Mental Health

Project leaders: Amantia Ametaj, Archana Basu, Karmel Choi, Christy Denckla, Bizu Gelaye, Shaili Jha, Karestan Koenen, Kristina Korte

Please contact: Shaili Jha  (sjha@hsph.harvard.edu) if interested to join.

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Aims and method

The mission of the REACH project is to bring evidence-based skills on managing stress and enhancing resilience to everyone around the world. This coordinated effort to “Do the Five for Mental Health” in the COVID-19 pandemic is summarized by the acronym REACH, which stands for 'Recognize the Problem', 'Expand the Social Safety Net', 'Assist Those Most at Risk', 'Cultivate Resilience', and 'Have Empathy.' One example of this initiative is the COVID-19 Mental Health Forums offered through the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health designed to: 1) introduce evidence-based skills for managing stress related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak; and 2) provide techniques for adapting and enhancing resilience. Each week, Dr. Karestan Koenen and colleagues host international experts in the field of clinical psychology and trauma epidemiology research to address important emotional, psychological, and physical health issues related to daily life during a pandemic. These forums are global in focus, hosting for example African psychiatrists covering issues facing sub-Saharan Africa at this time. These forums are always open to the global public and include a discussion and Q&A with attendees. If you would like to view previous forums and resources, learn more about upcoming forums, or join our mailing list, please visit our website at https://hsph.me/covid-19-mental-health. We are open to global collaboration for evaluating REACH worldwide and to adapt the interventions to local cultures.

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• Denckla, C.A., Gelaye, B., Orlinsky, L., Koenen, K.C. (2020). REACH for mental health in the COVID19 pandemic: an urgent call for public health action. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 11(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2020.1762995

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Theme 6.1  Global crises -COVID-19 > projects 7

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7. Psychological Effects of the Corona Virus COVID19

 

Project Leaders: Sara Freedman, Talya Greene, Cherie Armour

Project Group: Azu Garcia Palacios, Eduardo Fernandez, Emily McGlinchey,Kareena McAloney, Kerri McPherson, Pietro Cipresso.

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Aims and method

This study aims to further our understanding of psychological effects of the Coronavirus, assessing these as they change over time. We are specifically interested in PTSD symptoms and their relationship with Corona related exposure and worry. The first stage of this project (launched a month ago) included demographic questionnaires, Coronavirus exposure and worry, PTSD, LEC, GAD7 and PHQ9. Participants from English, Spanish, Italian and Hebrew speaking countries) were answering questionnaires on a weekly basis using the Qualtrics platform.

Results

The first assessment took place in the second half of March 2020 and were followed by 12 weekly assessments. Participants answered questionnaire regarding demographics, COVID19 symptoms and diagnosis, quarantine, worry about COVID19, social media use regarding COVID 19, anxiety (GAD7), depression (PHQ9). PTSD symptoms regarding COVID19 events were assessed at the first and last assessments. 1750 participants from more than 30 countries answered the initial assessment. Follow up assessments were completed by approximately 10% of each language group.

 

If you are interested in learning more about this study, please contact Sara Freedman (Sara.freedman@biu.ac.il)

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Theme 6.1  Global crises -COVID-19 > projects 8

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8. Global Psychotrauma Screen – Cross-Cultural responses to COVID-19 versus other traumatic events (GPS-CCC)

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Project group:

Miranda Olff, Helene Aakvaag, Dean Ajdukovic, Erine Brockner, Lucia Cantoni, Bruno Coimbra, Malgorzata Dragan, Emma Grace, Xenia Hadjicharalambous, Wissam El Hage, Jackie June ter Heide, Chris Hoeboer, Ani Hovnanyan, Jana Javakhishvili, Christian Kristensen, Rachel Langevin, Gladys Mwiti, Misari Oe, Janaina Pinto, Indira Primasari, Daniela Rabellino, Yulan Qing, Luisa Sales, Carolina Salgado, Julia Schellong, Erik de Soir, Ulrich Schnyder, Soraya Seedat, Sjacko Sobczak, Carmelo Vazquez, Rachel Williamson. ​

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Other ambassadors: Zafer Altunbezel, Anne Bakker, Sara Belquaid, Atle Dyregrov, Danielle Hett, Maryke Hewett, Yoshiharu Kim, Juliana Lanza, Brigitte Lueger-Schuster, Marcelo Mello, Natallia Nalyvaiko, Heval OzGen, Sam Manickam,Nadejda Semenova, Zhonglin Tan, Keerthana Thatavarthi, Anne Wagner, Li Wang, Irina Zrnic.  

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Aims and method

The aim of the GPS-CCC study were to better understand reactions to COVID-19 related traumatic events compared to those to other traumatic events and how these may differ, across different cultures and populations, and across different phases of the pandemic.

We invited individuals aged 16 or older, from around the world, who have experienced any difficult or frightening events, whether related to Corona virus (COVID-19) or other events such as a serious accident or fire, physical or sexual assault or abuse, earthquake or flood, war, seeing someone be killed or seriously injured, or having a loved one die through homicide or suicide, to participate in this 5 minute survey via this link. 

A few introductory questions lead to the Global Psychotrauma Screen (GPS) which has been developed by the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress (GC-TS) as a brief measure screening for a wide range of potential outcomes of trauma, as well as for risk and protective factors. It is currently available in 27 languages. (Olff., et al 2020, or GPS page). To collect the data we used the GPS web-app which allows to easily fill out the GPS including feedback to the participant.

Learning about specific responses to different types of trauma, different populations, will help us better target preventative and curative interventions.

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Results

The first phase of data collection on 7034 participants from 80 countries has finished and resulted in several published articles. Main study outcomes see Olff et al., 2021

Highlights

• In a large global sample, COVID-19 was associated with more severe mental health symptoms compared to other stressful or traumatic events.

• The impact of COVID-19 on mental health differed around the world with an especially large impact in Latin America.

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The data are freely available for anyone to use, analyze further, publish about etc. You can find them here: https://osf.io/untsy and on our FAIR data sets page.

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Publications

• Havermans, D.C.D., Hoeboer, C.M., Sobczak, S., Primasari, I., Coimbra, B.M., Hovnanyan, A., Novakovic, I.Z., Langevin, R., Aakvaag, H.F., Grace, E., Dragan, M., Lueger-Schuster, B., El-Hage, W. & Olff, M.. (2023). The mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and exposure to other potentially traumatic events up to old age.  J Trauma Stress.  Aug;36(4):738-749. doi: 10.1002/jts.22937​. Epub 2023 May 23.

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• Marengo, D.,*, Hoeboer*, C.M., Veldkamp, B.P., GPS-txt consortium, & Olff M. (2022). Text mining to improve screening for trauma-related symptoms in a global sample. Psychiatry Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114753

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• Olff, M., Primasari, I, Qing, Y, Coimbra B.M., Hovnanyan, A, Grace E,  Williamson, R.E., Hoeboer, C.M. & Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress (GC-TS) (2021). Mental Health Responses to COVID-19 around the World. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 12(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1929754 including a 2 minute video abstract.​

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• Williamson et al. (2021): Symptom networks of COVID-19-related versus other potentially traumatic events in a global sample. J Anx Dis https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2021.102476

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