Roles, challenges, and possibilities of traumatic stress professional societies around the world.

In many parts of the globe, regional professional societies have developed local traumatic stress organizations and have become affiliate societies of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS). At the ISTSS 40th Annual Meeting in September 2024, delegates from the ISTSS and five ISTSS-affiliate societies-Asociación Chilena de Estrés Traumático (ACET), the Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ASTSS), Deutschsprachige Gesellschaft für Psychotraumatologie (DeGPT), the Japanese Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (JSTSS), and the Korean Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (KSTSS)-gathered for a panel discussion entitled "Roles, Challenges, and Possibilities of ISTSS Affiliated Organizations Around the World: A Panel Discussion." Each panelist shared insights into their organization's structure, goals, ongoing projects, and challenges in addressing traumatic stress in their regions.

Testing the role of online group-based supervision for local humanitarian workers following a crisis: A mixed-methods longitudinal study.

The 2023 Türkiye-Syria earthquakes caused widespread destruction, leaving millions without access to basic needs and services. Caring for Carers (C4C), an online group-based supervision program for Syrian mental health workers, started three months prior to the earthquakes. This study examined the role of this program in supporting the mental and occupational health of the participants following this crisis.

MovingTogether: a randomised controlled trial of a mental-health-informed, digital health promotion intervention for older adults.

Background: Physical activity and nutrition are modifiable risk factors associated with a range of mental health and psychosocial outcomes in older adults. This trial evaluated the efficacy of a multicomponent digital health promotion intervention in reducing levels of psychological distress among adults aged 60+ years.

Methods: The MovingTogether intervention is a Facebook- and eHealth-delivered intervention, facilitated by allied health professionals, and incorporates healthy lifestyle education, tailored exercise guidance (including balance training), and social support.

The longitudinal relationship between psychological symptoms and social functioning in displaced refugees.

Background: Refugee experiences of trauma and displacement can significantly disrupt established social networks. While social functioning has been routinely associated with mental health, to our knowledge, no study has tested the direction of influence between social and psychological functioning within displaced refugee communities. This study investigated the temporal association between psychological symptoms (PTSD, depression, anger) and multiple facets of social functioning (including community connectedness, perceived social responsibility, positive social support and negative social support).

Mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: An international comparison of gender-related home and work-related responsibilities, and social support.

Unlabelled: PURPOSE  : To assess gender differences in COVID-19 related changes in home and work responsibilities longitudinally, and determine whether these differences, together with other potential risk and protective factors, are associated with depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology.

Method: Symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD were measured using an online survey instrument, between May 2020 and April 2021, in four waves completed at 3-monthly intervals. Analyses were based on data from the COvid MEntal healTh (COMET) survey which investigated the mental health effects of the COVID-19 outbreak spanning 13 countries on five continents in N = 7,909 participants.

Longitudinal Associations of Experienced and Perceived Community Stigma With Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence and Viral Suppression in New-to-Care People With HIV: Mediating Roles of Internalized Stigma and Depression Symptoms.

Background: Although cross-sectional studies have suggested that HIV-related stigma and depression symptoms may result in poor HIV treatment and health outcomes, few studies have investigated potential longitudinal mechanisms in these relationships. Furthermore, longitudinal effects of HIV-related stigma on health outcomes have not been examined in people with HIV (PWH) newly initiating HIV clinical care. We examined longitudinal associations between experienced and perceived community stigma and health outcomes (antiretroviral therapy [ART] adherence and viral load), mediated by internalized stigma and depression symptoms among new-to-care PWH in the United States.

Understanding the protective effect of social support on depression symptomatology from a longitudinal network perspective.

Background: Higher social support protects people from developing mental disorders. Limited evidence is available on the mechanism through which social support plays this protective role.

Objective: To investigate the stress-buffering process of social support on depressive symptoms using a novel longitudinal dynamic symptom network approach.

Testing the effectiveness and acceptability of online supportive supervision for mental health practitioners in humanitarian settings: a study protocol for the caring for carers project.

Background: Local humanitarian workers in low and middle-income countries must often contend with potentially morally injurious situations, often with limited resources. This creates barriers to providing sustainable mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) to displaced individuals. Clinical supervision is an often neglected part of ensuring high-quality, sustainable care.

Socio-cultural integration of Afghan refugees in Türkiye: the role of traumatic events, post-displacement stressors and mental health.

Aims: Socio-cultural integration of refugees has received scant attention in the academic literature. Türkiye hosts the largest number of refugees, including Afghans, as the second largest asylum-seeking group in Türkiye. There is a dearth of research into the mental health and integration of Afghan refugees in Türkiye.

Resilience of people with chronic medical conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic: a 1-year longitudinal prospective survey.

Backgrounds: Individuals with chronic medical conditions are considered highly exposed to COVID-19 pandemic stress, but emerging evidence is demonstrating that resilience is common even among them. We aimed at identifying sustained resilient outcomes and their predictors in chronically ill people during the first year of the pandemic.

Methods: This international 4-wave 1-year longitudinal online survey included items on socio-demographic characteristics, economic and living situation, lifestyle and habits, pandemic-related issues, and history of mental disorders.

Estimated prevalence rates and risk factors for common mental health problems among Syrian and Afghan refugees in Türkiye.

Background: Türkiye hosts 4 million refugees and asylum seekers, with Syrians and Afghans being among the largest refugee groups in country. There are limited comparative data on the conflict- and displacement-related experiences of these groups and the relation with mental health status.

Aims: To assess the mental health status of Syrians and Afghans in Türkiye, identify risk factors and explore to what extent differences in mental health conditions are related to potentially traumatic events and post-displacement stressors.

Scalable psychological interventions for Syrian refugees in Europe and the Middle East: STRENGTHS study protocol for a prospective individual participant data meta-analysis.

Introduction: The World Health Organization's (WHO) scalable psychological interventions, such as Problem Management Plus (PM+) and Step-by-Step (SbS) are designed to be cost-effective non-specialist delivered interventions to reduce symptoms of common mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The STRENGTHS consortium aims to evaluate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and implementation of the individual format of PM+ and its group version (gPM+), as well as of the digital SbS intervention among Syrian refugees in seven countries in Europe and the Middle East. This is a study protocol for a prospective individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to evaluate (1) overall effectiveness and cost-effectiveness and (2) treatment moderators of PM+, gPM+ and SbS with Syrian refugees.

Effectiveness of a WHO self-help psychological intervention for preventing mental disorders among Syrian refugees in Turkey: a randomized controlled trial.

Refugees are at high risk of developing mental disorders. There is no evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that psychological interventions can prevent the onset of mental disorders in this group. We assessed the effectiveness of a self-help psychological intervention developed by the World Health Organization, called Self-Help Plus, in preventing the development of mental disorders among Syrian refugees experiencing psychological distress in Turkey.