Publications by authors named "Sarah R Lowe"

This study examined the relationship between the theme of interdependence in the narratives of American adults with disabilities and psychological well-being across the shifting conditions of the first 3 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast to independence, interdependence has emerged as a focus of research about people with disabilities in both the interdisciplinary field of disability studies and in prior psychological research. In the present study, 108 participants completed questionnaires assessing well-being and responded to three narrative prompts once a year between 2020 and 2022, resulting in a total of 952 narratives.

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Purpose/objective: People with disabilities (PWDs) are at elevated risk for depression compared to their nondisabled peers (Okoro et al., 2021). Experiences of ableism and emotion dysregulation are identified risk factors for depression among disabled adults (Almeida et al.

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People with disabilities (PWD) have reported higher major depression (MD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic than others in the general population, with social isolation and disability stigma as key predictors of heightened symptomatology. However, the nature and predictors of PWD's MD and GAD symptom trajectories during the pandemic and after other potentially traumatic events remain largely unknown. The present study aimed to (a) document PWD's MD and GAD symptom trajectories during the pandemic and (b) examine social isolation and disability stigma as predictors of trajectory membership.

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Background: Within disaster-affected communities, residents' exposures and post-disaster mental health outcomes can vary widely. Yet, few studies have explored the relationship between such diverse disaster-related exposures and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in a Puerto Rican context.

Methods: To address this gap, we used data from the Preparedness to Reduce Exposures and Diseases Post-hurricanes and Augment Resilience (PREPARE) study, a cohort of mainly Hispanic Puerto Ricans who experienced Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017.

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Aim: We tested the utility of showing "selfie" videos to increase adolescents' climate change hope, agency, and behavioral intentions, and to decrease their climate anxiety.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial among healthy volunteers, ages 14 to 18, enrolled through a crowdsourcing platform. We randomly assigned participants (N = 1039) to view one of three 110-s-long video interventions featuring the same adolescent protagonist: positive (depicting an action-oriented stance); negative (defeatist stance); and control (neutral stance and unrelated content).

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As climate change intensifies, hurricanes and weather-related disasters have been increasingly frequent and severe, impacting regions like the U.S. Gulf Coast with repeated hurricanes.

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Understanding how the environment shapes our mental and cognitive health is imperative to support efforts that promote healthy and sustainable living conditions. The etiology of mental health conditions remains often unclear, and social factors have received more scrutiny than natural or built environments. We present a conceptual framework illustrating the emerging intersection between the environment and neuropsychological health, intended to structure and guide research and funding, as well as public health and environmental initiatives.

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Objective: Robust research has established that preexisting physical and mental health conditions increase risk for adverse psychiatric outcomes after disasters. However, it is unclear if increased risk is independent of disaster exposure, and most studies have relied on retrospective reports of pre-disaster functioning.

Methods: In a pre-post sample of high-risk Puerto Rican adults (N = 361) who experienced Hurricanes Irma and Maria, we assessed: 1) whether indicators of pre-disaster depression and physical health conditions were associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) symptoms; and 2) whether the effects of pre-disaster depression and physical health conditions on PTSD and MDD symptoms were indirect via disaster exposure or had exacerbated the effects of disaster exposure on PTSD and MDD symptoms.

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The number of people forcibly displaced due to conflict is rising rapidly each year. Previous studies have documented associations between mental ill health, HIV risk, and poor engagement with HIV care in conflict-affected populations. Most people forced to migrate are adolescents and young adults, who might already be affected by a high burden of mental ill health due to factors such as high trauma exposure during the developmental period.

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Sexual consent has been a major focus of campus campaigns to reduce sexual violence (SV). However, these campaigns often educate students about consent with little attention to the complex ways consent can be experienced, expressed, and interpreted by others. Further, little research has focused on the consent feelings and communication cues of students who have a history of SV, nor have studies examined how the ability to attend to and regulate emotions relates to internal feelings or external communication of consent.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused psychological problems among nurses worldwide. However, their willingness to seek professional help is relatively low, due to perceived barriers that have remained unknown.

Aims: This study analysed the potential barriers and influencing factors of psychological help-seeking among nurses participating in community COVID-19 epidemic prevention work.

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Thirty years after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, children of survivors are being increasingly documented to be at higher risk compared to their peers for adverse mental health outcomes. However, no studies in Rwanda have empirically explored family psychosocial factors underlying this intergenerational transmission of trauma. We investigated family psychosocial factors that could underlie this transmission in 251 adult Rwandan children of survivors (mean age = 23.

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Purpose: This study aimed to explore help-seeking preference categories and crucial influencing factors among community nurses exposed to COVID-19 in China using a new person-centered approach.

Design: A cross-sectional design including an online self-reported questionnaire survey was used.

Methods: A total of 667 nurses who participated in COVID-19 prevention and control work were recruited.

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Little is known about how neighborhood economic characteristics relate to risk of depression and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the context of multiple disasters. We sampled 88 super neighborhoods in Houston, Texas and surveyed 872 residents who were living in Houston during Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19 and lived in the same residence since Hurricane Harvey, about their demographics and symptoms of depression and PTSD. Using data from the American Community Survey, we estimated neighborhood-level unemployment, median income, and income inequality (i.

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Background: Racism-related stress is a root cause of racial and ethnic disparities in mental health outcomes. An individual may be exposed to racism directly or vicariously by hearing about or observing people of the same racial and/or ethnic group experience racism. Although the healthcare setting is a venue by which healthcare workers experience both direct and vicarious racism, few studies have assessed the associations between direct and vicarious racism and mental health outcomes among healthcare workers.

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Mental health challenges appear common among adolescents in American Samoa. There is a community-identified need to better understand the health burden and identify opportunities to strengthen the mental health system to better meet adolescent mental health needs. The goal of this qualitative study was to gather community stakeholders' perceptions of common mental health problems among adolescents in American Samoa, identify existing services for adolescent mental health, and highlight strength-based opportunities to enhance care.

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Little is known about the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other major disasters on mental health. Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast in 2017, resulting in substantial costs, significant levels of displacement, and approximately 100 deaths, and was followed in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic. We randomly sampled 1167 Houstonians from 88 designated super-neighborhoods and surveyed them about their demographics, event-specific traumas and stressors, and symptoms of current depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Purpose/objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing health inequities for people with disabilities (PWD), including disparities in mental health needs and service use. The present study investigated prospective predisposing, enabling, and illness-related correlates of mental health service need and use among PWD during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research Method/design: Data were collected online at two time points: October-December 2020 and October-December 2021.

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: Weather-related disasters, including hurricanes, are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change. Vulnerable populations, such as people with low income and racial and ethnic minorities, are particularly prone to increased levels of physical harm and psychiatric adversity from weather-related events.: We aimed to explore psychosocial resources and coping of survivors with three different posttraumatic stress symptom (PTSS) trajectories (, , and ), after Hurricane Katrina across two different time points: F1 (1-year post-disaster) and F3 (12 years post-disaster).

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Gender discrimination among healthcare workers (HCWs) negatively impacts their mental health and career development; however, few studies have explored how experiences of gender discrimination change during times of health system strain. This survey-based study assesses the associations between gender discrimination and four stress-related mental health outcomes (posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and burnout), as well as the qualitative experiences of gender discrimination in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among women, increased gender discrimination was associated with heightened symptoms of posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and burnout after adjusting for demographics and pandemic-related stressors; however, among men, increased gender discrimination was only associated with heightened symptoms of depression.

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Residential greenness may support mental health among disaster-affected populations; however, changes in residential greenness may disrupt survivors' sense of place. We obtained one pre- and three post-disaster psychological distress scores (Kessler [K]-6) from a cohort (n = 229) of low-income mothers who survived Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Greenness was assessed using average growing season Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) in the 300 m around participants' homes at each time point.

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Women are at heightened risk for chronic stress-related psychological sequelae (SRPS), including major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in response to potentially traumatic events, including the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies have examined pre- and peri-event stressors that could account for gender differences in chronic SRPS. To address this gap, we conducted a prospective cohort study of healthcare providers (HCPs) caring for patients with COVID-19 at a large tertiary care hospital in New York City, and measured mental health risk factors and symptoms of MDD, GAD, and PTSD at baseline (April 2020) and at a 7-month follow-up (December 2020).

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