Examining the Attitudes of Non-Psychiatric Practicing Healthcare Workers Towards Patients With Alcohol Problems in General Hospital Setting.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Problematic alcohol-use affect the physical and mental well-being of hospitalised individuals and may receive screening and brief-intervention during treatment. Non-psychiatric doctors and nurses might respond inadequately due to negative attitudes and beliefs. This study aimed to examine these attitudes of non-psychiatric workers in the medical and surgical wards. METHODS: A total of 457 doctors and 1643 nurses were recruited from the medical, surgical and orthopaedic disciplines over a period of 4 months. Three questionnaires were administered: demographics, Alcohol & Alcohol-Problems Perceptions Questionnaire (AAPPQ) and Staff Perception of Alcohol Treatment Resources. RESULTS: About 128 doctors and 785 nurses responded. Around 75.5% doctors and 51.9% nurses endorsed role-legitimacy in the AAPPQ. Both the doctor (86.7%) and nurse (77.6%) groups agreed on the importance to initiate intervention for patients with problematic alcohol-use in daily work. Both groups were sceptical and negative towards these patients endorsing low-level role-adequacy (41.2%), role-support (36.9%), motivation (36.5%), task-specific self-esteem (25.1) as well as work satisfaction (20.5%). CONCLUSION/DISCUSSION: Doctors and nurses demonstrated low levels of therapeutic commitments towards patients with problematic alcohol-use thereby necessitating the introduction of in-house programmes to educate, empower and emphasise the importance of therapeutic contact with patients for alcohol intervention. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: The prompt identification and treatment of patients with alcohol problems are contingent on the workers' attitudes towards them. This study's results should spark a nation-wide interest to improve the training and recognition of such patients and providing adequate educational resources.

Effects of COVID-19 on Substance Use in Singapore.

This review examines the impact of COVID-19 on the substance-abuse landscape and climate with particular attention on Singapore's. Substance-abuse has received the least attention during the COVID-19 outbreak and this pandemic has further sheared the problem's visibility and the provision of care for this population of sufferers. The authors examine the current literature to look at the access and utility of street drugs due to border closure, the influence of the pandemic on prevailing drug behaviours as well as the effect of social distancing on drug-users. Two case studies are described. The paper serves to illuminate the ever-present problem of substance-abuse even during a viral pandemic and to remind the local government and healthcare system to continue efforts in caring for this group of patients.

Comparison of Brain Activation Patterns during Olfactory Stimuli between Recovered COVID-19 Patients and Healthy Controls: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Study.

Impaired sense of smell occurs in a fraction of patients with COVID-19 infection, but its effect on cerebral activity is unknown. Thus, this case report investigated the effect of COVID-19 infection on frontotemporal cortex activity during olfactory stimuli. In this preliminary study, patients who recovered from COVID-19 infection (n = 6) and healthy controls who never contracted COVID-19 (n = 6) were recruited. Relative changes in frontotemporal cortex oxy-hemoglobin during olfactory stimuli was acquired using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The area under curve (AUC) of oxy-hemoglobin for the time interval 5 s before and 15 s after olfactory stimuli was derived. In addition, olfactory function was assessed using the Sniffin' Sticks 12-identification test (SIT-12). Patients had lower SIT-12 scores than healthy controls (p = 0.026), but there were no differences in oxy-hemoglobin AUC between healthy controls and patients (p > 0.05). This suggests that past COVID-19 infection may not affect frontotemporal cortex function, and these preliminary results need to be verified in larger samples.

Psychiatric care for a person with MELAS syndrome: A case report.

This report provides information for future clinicians who may be involved in treating patients with mitochondrial disorders manifesting with psychiatric problems, as literature in treatment is limited. The interventions focus on both carefully crafted medication therapy and nondrug methods to manage the challenging behaviors in a medically infirmed person.

Pathological Gambling, Gambling Disorder, and Problem Gambling Among the Chinese Ethnic Population Living in Western Countries: Is Culture a Sufficient Explanation for the Reported Excess Rates?

A significant gap remains in the understanding of the psychosocial and cultural factors and processes in the development and maintenance of pathological gambling, gambling disorder, and problem gambling among the Chinese ethnic population living in the Western countries. This narrative reviews papers on gambling and pathological gambling among the Chinese ethnic group in Western countries to provide a deeper understanding of the cultural and psychosocial factors and processes that lead to the development and maintenance of pathological gambling, gambling disorder, and problem gambling. The factors leading to development of problem gambling, which also carry distinctive cultural differences, include acculturation process among Chinese migrants to western countries, their social learning patterns in gambling, the patterns and motivation seen in Chinese gamblers, their gambling-related cognitive bias and distortions as well as barriers to their help-seeking behaviours. The collectivistic oriental culture may explain for intrafamilial development of gambling behaviour and this strong male authority in the traditional Chinese family set-up also reinforces this influence. The Chinese culture is associated with increased risk-taking behaviour. Superstitious thinking is more prevalent in the Chinese culture and this can be manifested in individuals' perceptions of fate and luck. Future research projects studying pathological gambling and ethnic minorities in the UK should seek greater understanding and improved management of this condition in a small but highly relevant population.