Mental issues, internet addiction and quality of life predict burnout among Hungarian teachers: a machine learning analysis.

BACKGROUND: Burnout is usually defined as a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion that affects people in various professions (e.g. physicians, nurses, teachers). The consequences of burnout involve decreased motivation, productivity, and overall diminished well-being. The machine learning-based prediction of burnout has therefore become the focus of recent research. In this study, the aim was to detect burnout using machine learning and to identify its most important predictors in a sample of Hungarian high-school teachers. METHODS: The final sample consisted of 1,576 high-school teachers (522 male), who completed a survey including various sociodemographic and health-related questions and psychological questionnaires. Specifically, depression, insomnia, internet habits (e.g. when and why one uses the internet) and problematic internet usage were among the most important predictors tested in this study. Supervised classification algorithms were trained to detect burnout assessed by two well-known burnout questionnaires. Feature selection was conducted using recursive feature elimination. Hyperparameters were tuned via grid search with 10-fold cross-validation. Due to class imbalance, class weights (i.e. cost-sensitive learning), downsampling and a hybrid method (SMOTE-ENN) were applied in separate analyses. The final model evaluation was carried out on a previously unseen holdout test sample. RESULTS: Burnout was detected in 19.7% of the teachers included in the final dataset. The best predictive performance on the holdout test sample was achieved by random forest with class weigths (AUC = 0.811; balanced accuracy = 0.745, sensitivity = 0.765; specificity = 0.726). The best predictors of burnout were Beck's Depression Inventory scores, Athen's Insomnia Scale scores, subscales of the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire and self-reported current health status. CONCLUSIONS: The performances of the algorithms were comparable with previous studies; however, it is important to note that we tested our models on previously unseen holdout samples suggesting higher levels of generalizability. Another remarkable finding is that besides depression and insomnia, other variables such as problematic internet use and time spent online also turned out to be important predictors of burnout.

[The role of mental health support for medical students.] / Az orvostanhallgatók számára fenntartott mentálhigiénés segítségnyújtás szerepe.

INTRODUCTION: The mental health of medical students is of critical importance during their medical studies, which can be a long and challenging period. Academic expectations, high workload, and emotional stress can contribute to mental burden and burnout among medical students, placing an increased burden on the healthcare system in the future. Therefore, psychological support and mental health services play a crucial role in medical education. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to present and examine the role of the Psychological Counseling Service at the University of Pécs Medical School in supporting the mental health of medical students since its establishment in 2007. METHOD: In this study, we present the combined quantitative and qualitative results from the period between November 2021 and May 2023, as registered by the students and staff utilizing the Service as well as the counseling psychologists working at the Service. The data include the number of consultations, the patterns of the most frequently occurring problems (based on the Counseling Professional Protocol), and the mental well-being of the population receiving psychological support (GHQ-12). RESULTS: During the examined period, a total of 1111 individuals made use of the Service in 2012 appointments. Both students and staff most commonly sought assistance from the Service in addressing relationship difficulties (37.6%) and coping with negative life events (33.1%). Based on the data collected since October 2022 (n = 113), nearly 10% of the attendees were taking medication for psychiatric treatment, a significantly higher percentage among international students. Furthermore, 38.9% had previously received professional help. The average score on the GHQ-12 questionnaire is 8 points, which is significantly above the 5-point threshold achieved by 78.6% of respondents. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate that the Psychological Counseling Service at the University of Pécs Medical School plays a significant role in supporting the mental health of medical students. It contributes to more effective coping with academic challenges, reducing the risk of emotional stress and burnout. Orv Hetil. 2023; 164(45): 1778-1786.

Negative time perspective predicts the self-perceived affective and physical components of pain independently from depression, anxiety, and early life circumstances.

People's attitudes toward time, the time perspectives (TPs) rooted in past experiences, might be crucial for the emotional evaluation of life events, such as painful situations. In a survey-based study (N = 353), we investigated the relationship of TPs with the self-perceived affective and physical aspects of pain. Specifically, we hypothesised that past-negative TP would be associated with a negative emotional appraisal of pain characterised by higher pain-related catastrophizing, fear, and physical sensitivity to pain. We tested this hypothesis with hierarchical regression models, adding depression, anxiety, and variables of early life circumstances to the model stepwise. Early life circumstances (i.e., socioeconomic status, household unpredictability, and family resources) were measured retrospectively using questionnaires. In addition, based on the results of the regression analyses, we built a structural equation model (SEM) and tested whether past-negative mediates the effect of household unpredictability toward emotional and physical appraisal of pain. We found that individuals scoring high on past-negative TP had greater pain catastrophizing, pain-related fear, and sensitivity to pain. Further, there was evidence that these associations are independent from depression, anxiety, and early life circumstances. Finally, SEM analysis suggested that unpredictable early life circumstances were directed toward intense, negatively emotionalised pain perception via the mediation of the past-negative TP. The findings generally support the view that pain behaviour is formed by emotional states and attitudes that are linked to past experiences that are not necessarily specific to the context of pain.

The role and tools of trust and empathic communication in healthcare during the COVID-19 epidemic / A bizalom és az empatikus kommunikáció szerepe és eszközei az egészségügyben a COVID-19-járvány idején.

Összefoglaló. A járvánnyal szembeni védekezés során mindennapossá vált a maszkhasználat, amely jelentos kihívást jelent a hétköznapi kommunikációs helyzetekben. Az egészségügy bizonyos területein korábban is jelen volt ez a probléma, azonban a most általános érvényu, folyamatos maszkviselés és védoruha-használat szimbolikus és gyakorlati értelemben is akadályként jelenik meg az orvos és a páciens között, ami több szinten nehezíti a hatékony kapcsolatteremtést és kommunikációt. Ezért szükségessé vált olyan egységes kommunikációs protokollok kidolgozása, amelyek segítik a bizalmi kapcsolat kiépítését az egészségügyben úgy, hogy az ellátók érzelmi elérhetosége és a biztonságos fizikai távolságtartás egyszerre valósuljon meg. Tanulmányunk célja, hogy a kurrens szakirodalom áttekintése révén összefoglaljuk a maszkviselés és a védoruha-használat hatásait az orvos-beteg kommunikációra és a kapcsolatban megjeleno bizalomra és empátiás folyamatokra, valamint fel kívánjuk hívni a figyelmet az egészségügyi személyzetet éro hatásokra is. Célunk továbbá, hogy a hazai és nemzetközi tapasztalatokat figyelembe véve olyan ajánlásokat fogalmazzunk meg, melyek segítségével javítható az egészségügyi dolgozók kommunikációja, azon keresztül pedig az ellátás legfontosabb szereploinek, a betegeknek és az ellátóknak az elégedettsége a kapcsolattal. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(23): 897-904. Summary. In the fight against the epidemic, the use of masks has become commonplace, which is a significant challenge in everyday communication situations. This problem has been present in some areas of healthcare in the past, but today's universal use of masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) is both a symbolic and practical barrier between doctor and patient, making it difficult to establish an effective communication and connectivity on several levels. Therefore, it has become necessary to develop unified communication protocols that help building a relationship of trust in healthcare so that emotional availability of providers and safe physical distance are achieved simultaneously. The aim of our study is to summarize the effects of mask wearing and PPE usage on the physician-patient communication and also the trust and empathy processes that emerge within the relationship through the review of the current literature. We would also like to draw attention to the effects on healthcare staff. Our goal is also to formulate recommendations, taking into account domestic and international experience, that can be used to improve the communication of healthcare professionals, and through that, the satisfaction of the most important actors in care, patients and caregivers. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(23): 897-904.

Healthy ageing in Europe: prioritizing interventions to improve health literacy.

BACKGROUND: Health literacy (HL) is low for 40-50 % of the population in developed nations, and is strongly linked to many undesirable health outcomes. Older adults are particularly at risk. The intervention research on health literacy in ageing populations project systematically created a large inventory of HL interventions targeting adults age 50+ , to support practical production of policy and practice guidelines for promoting health literacy in European populations. METHODS: We comprehensively surveyed international scientific literature, grey literature and other sources (published 2003+) for implemented HL interventions that involved older adults. Studies were screened for eligibility criteria and further selected for aspects important in European public health policy, including priority diseases, risk factors and vulnerable target groups. Interventions were prioritised using a multiple criteria tool to select final interventions that also featured strong evidence of efficacy and a broad range of strategies. RESULTS: From nearly 7000 written summaries, 1097 met inclusion criteria, of which 233 were chosen for scoring and ranking. Of these, seven had the highest multi-criteria scores. Eight more articles were selected based on rounded criteria including a high multi-criteria score as well as elements of innovation. Final selections were 18 articles describing 15 programmes, which feature strong evidence of efficacy among important diseases or risk factors and vulnerable groups, or that had success with elements of innovation were identified. Most programmes tried to increase skills in communication, self-management and understanding healthcare or lifestyle choices. CONCLUSIONS: These programmes have multiple positive attributes which could be used as guidance for developing innovative intervention programmes to trial on European older adults. They provide evidence of efficacy in addressing high priority diseases and risk factors.