Experiences of health care providers on pregnancy and childbirth care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran: a phenomenological study.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus currently cause a lot of pressure on the health system. Accordingly, many changes occurred in the way of providing health care, including pregnancy and childbirth care. To our knowledge, no studies on experiences of maternity care Providers during the COVID-19 Pandemic have been published in Iran. We aimed to discover their experiences on pregnancy and childbirth care during the current COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This study was a qualitative research performed with a descriptive phenomenological approach. The used sampling method was purposive sampling by taking the maximum variation possible into account, which continued until data saturation. Accordingly, in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted by including 12 participants, as 4 gynecologists, 6 midwives working in the hospitals and private offices, and 2 midwives working in the health centers. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi's seven stage method with MAXQDA10 software. RESULTS: Data analysis led to the extraction of 3 themes, 9 categories, and 25 subcategories. The themes were as follows: "Fear of Disease", "Burnout", and "Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic", respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal health care providers experience emotional and psychological stress and work challenges during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, comprehensive support should be provided for the protection of their physical and mental health statuses. By working as a team, utilizing the capacity of telemedicine to care and follow up mothers, and providing maternity care at home, some emerged challenges to maternal care services can be overcome.

Impact of the talent development environment on the wellbeing and burnout of Caribbean youth track and field athletes.

This study examined the perceived talent development environment (TDE) of youth track and field athletes within the Caribbean region and explores the relationship with their subjective wellbeing and burnout levels. A sample of 400 Caribbean youth track and field athletes (male = 198, and female = 202; age 13-20 years) participated in this cross-sectional study. Athletes responded to a survey which included the Talent Development Environment Questionnaire (TDEQ-5), the World Health Organization Wellbeing Index (WHO-5) and the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). Structural equation modelling showed that a positive and supportive TDE was associated with better athlete wellbeing and lower athlete burnout. Moreover, gender and hours of training moderated relationships of athletes' perceptions of their development environment with wellbeing and burnout levels respectively. Furthermore, there was a positive association between the support network and athlete wellbeing, while holistic quality preparation was negatively associated with athlete burnout. Development environments perceived as supportive and geared towards a holistic athlete-centred approach were associated with better athlete wellbeing and lower burnout.

[Mindfulness and the clinical relationship: steps to a resilience in medicine]. / Mindfulness y la relación clínica: pasos hacia una resiliencia en medicina.

Medical resilience is a dynamic capacity, which has the potential to improve the well-being of physicians and to enhance the quality of the clinical relationship. Strategies to promote resilience are important to achieve a sustainable medical practice and improve patient care. Mindfulness training has demonstrated to be an effective tool to promote resilience in physicians. This paper contextualizes the place of mindfulness in medical practice and describes the ways through which it can contribute to resilience in medicine. The concept of mindfulness, its relationship with health practice is reviewed and the benefits of the practice of mindfulness in the clinical relationship are described. We suggest that the benefits achieved through a mindfulness-based medical practice are mediated by two axes. One is the nonspecific and specific effect of mindfulness-based practices and the other is the integration of explicit and implicit knowledge of clinical practice. We conclude that medical practice that integrates mindfulness can contribute to the challenge of achieving greater levels of individual, staff and institutional resilience. There is a need to have continuing mindfulness training programs for health professionals and to integrate this concept in the curriculum of health care professionals.

Stress and Illness: A Role for Specific Emotions.

Research on stress and disease has often afforded an important role to emotion, typically conceptualized in broad categories (e.g., negative emotions), viewed as playing a causal role (e.g., anger contributing to pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease), and measured using self-report inventories. In this article, I argue for the value of evaluating specific emotions, considering bidirectional causal influences, and assessing actual emotional responding when considering the role that emotions play in the stress-disease relationship. In terms of specificity, specific emotions (e.g., anger, sadness, and embarrassment) can be linked with particular health outcomes (e.g., cardiovascular disease and musculoskeletal disease). In terms of bidirectionality, the influences of emotions on disease as well as the influences of disease on emotional functioning can be considered. In terms of assessing actual emotional responding, emotions can be studied in vivo under controlled conditions that allow behavioral, physiological, and subjective responses to be measured during different kinds of emotional functioning (e.g., responding to emotional stimuli, interacting with relationship partners, and downregulating emotional responses). With these considerations in mind, I review early theories and empirical studies in psychosomatic medicine that considered the role of specific emotions and emotion-related behaviors. Studies from our laboratory are presented that illustrate a) differences in patterns of autonomic nervous system responding associated with specific emotions, b) relationships between specific emotions and particular health outcomes in the context of social relationships, c) age as a moderator of the relationship between specific emotions and well-being, d) bidirectional influences (emotions influencing disease and disease influencing emotional functioning), and e) impact of changes in emotional functioning in individuals with neurodegenerative diseases on the health of familial caregivers.

Alexithymia in Young people's academic career: The mediating role of anxiety and resilience.

Alexithymia prevents people from understanding and adopting verbal language to describe and regulate one's emotions. Recent studies have found that alexithymia symptoms also impact on young people's academic achievement. Nevertheless, it is worth investigating risk and protective roles played by students' academic anxiety and resilience, respectively. The authors expected that students' anxiety and resilience mediated the effect of alexithymia symptoms on students' academic burnout and performance. A sample of 257 university students answered self-report questionnaires about alexithymia, academic anxiety and resilience, and academic burnout and performance. Mediation analyses were performed by the structural equation model. Anxiety acted as a mediator between alexithymia and academic burnout and performance. Furthermore, resilience mediated the effect of alexithymia on burnout, but not on academic performance. The study provides support for preventing alexithymia consequences on young people's academic career by reducing their anxiety and promoting academic resilience. Implications of intervention programs were discussed.

Mindfulness y la relación clínica: pasos hacia una resiliencia en medicina / Mindfulness and the clinical relationship: steps to a resilience in medicine

Medical resilience is a dynamic capacity, which has the potential to improve the well-being of physicians and to enhance the quality of the clinical relationship. Strategies to promote resilience are important to achieve a sustainable medical practice and improve patient care. Mindfulness training has demonstrated to be an effective tool to promote resilience in physicians. This paper contextualizes the place of mindfulness in medical practice and describes the ways through which it can contribute to resilience in medicine. The concept of mindfulness, its relationship with health practice is reviewed and the benefits of the practice of mindfulness in the clinical relationship are described. We suggest that the benefits achieved through a mindfulness-based medical practice are mediated by two axes. One is the nonspecific and specific effect of mindfulness-based practices and the other is the integration of explicit and implicit knowledge of clinical practice. We conclude that medical practice that integrates mindfulness can contribute to the challenge of achieving greater levels of individual, staff and institutional resilience. There is a need to have continuing mindfulness training programs for health professionals and to integrate this concept in the curriculum of health care professionals.

Does the intervention of mindfulness reduce levels of burnout and compassion fatigue and increase resilience in pre-registration students? A pilot study.

INTRODUCTION: In the current clinical working environment it is important that therapeutic radiography students are fully prepared not just clinically but emotionally for a working professional life. Mindfulness has shown promise, as a self-care strategy, in the improvement of burnout, resilience and compassion fatigue in other professions; however, it has not been used with therapeutic radiography students. METHODS: Eight pre-registration therapeutic radiography students were recruited to undergo a five week mindfulness course; six students from the year below were recruited to act as a control arm (no mindfulness). Data was collected using a series of validated tools at baseline, week five, month three and 12 months after the start of the study: RESULTS: The MBI-SS scale demonstrated 29% of the sample experienced emotional exhaustion and 43% increased cynicism. The other tools showed a positive trend with the intervention; however, these were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Although no statistically significant differences were demonstrated between the study arms, some interesting trends have been noted. The key finding was the identification of burnout experienced by almost a third of the study sample. This suggests that a new area of study is warranted to further investigate the factors contributing to burnout in the student population.

Self-regulatory biofeedback training: an intervention to reduce school burnout and improve cardiac functioning in college students.

With the detrimental relationship between school burnout and physiological and cognitive functioning now well documented, interventions to ameliorate school burnout symptomology are needed. This study examined the effectiveness of a self-regulatory biofeedback intervention program (Heart Rate Variability Coherence Biofeedback Training [HRVCB]) in contrast to a protocol demonstrated to produce cognitive and physiological improvements (a high intensity interval training protocol [HIIT]) as well as a wait-list control condition at decreasing school burnout in an American collegiate sample (N = 90). Intervention training was conducted over a 4-week span (three sessions per week) with accompanying baseline and post-intervention assessments. In addition to measurements of school burnout and negative affect (depression and anxiety), intervention influences on cognition (via a serial subtraction task) and physiology (hemodynamics, electrocardiography, and a submaximal cardiorespiratory fitness test) were explored. Findings indicate HRVCB training significantly decreased school burnout and increased mathematical performance from pre- to post-intervention measurement. These changes did not occur for HIIT or waitlist participants. Brachial and aortic systolic blood pressure decreased pre to post-intervention for HRVCB but not HIIT or waitlist participants. Cardiovascular fitness (VO2max) improved pre to post-intervention for HIIT but not HRVCB or waitlist participants. Also, both HRVCB and HIIT training participants decreased heart rate from pre to post-intervention but not waitlist participants. Finally, all participants decreased cardiac sympathovagal tone from pre to post-intervention. These findings provide evidence that HRVCB training programs can decrease school burnout as well as improve components associated with cardiac health. Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Mapping Caregivers' Health Assets. A self-care project using Salutogenesis and Mindfulness.

BACKGROUND: Thousands of caregivers around the world take care of impaired people, with negative repercussions on their physical, psychological, social and economic resources. The need to promote caregivers' wellbeing is internationally recognized, thus reducing health inequalities. Mindfulness is a powerful tool, directly related to the reduction of stress, able to increase skills and attitudes promoting well-being. The basis of this project of community development based on active health, is the self-care achieved through mindfulness. AIMS: The overall aim of this project is to improve the caregivers' health and quality of life through community mapping strategies and mindfulness. METHODS: According to the salutogenic model, and to the model of community development based on active health (ABCD) we will create a map of the caregivers' internal and external health assets. The project will have a participatory action research methodology, and it will go throygh five different phases, with mindfulness as a central tool. RESULTS: At the end of the project, results will be analyzed referring to structures, processes and objective and subjective outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: At the end of the project, we will evaluate if the Salutogenic ABCD methodology along with Mindfulness, will be able to reduce health inequalities improving caregivers' wellbeing.

Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Burn-Out, and Compassion Satisfaction Among Body Handlers: The Mediating Role of Sense of Coherence and Spirituality at Workplace.

This study assessed posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), burn-out (BO), and compassion satisfaction (CS) among Israeli body handlers. We aimed to explore differences between two groups of Orthodox Jewish male volunteers: the "ZAKA" body handlers (ZAs: n = 102), and a comparison group of charity workers (CWs: n = 101). Furthermore, we assessed the contribution of two potential resilience buffers-sense of coherence (SOC) and spirituality at the workplace (SAW)-to PTSS, BO, and CS among these volunteers via self-report measures. Surprisingly, results show that ZAs reported significantly lower levels of PTSS and BO as compared with CWs. ZAs also reported significantly higher levels of CS as compared with CWs. Importantly, SOC mediated the link between groups and PTSS and BO. Both SOC and SAW mediated the link between groups and CS. These findings suggest that "ZAKA" body handlers demonstrate substantial resilience following repeated exposure to death and atrocities. To reduce work-related psychological distress and improve CS, SOC and SAW should be taken into account in the process of recruitment and training of body handlers.

A Pilot Online Mindfulness Intervention to Decrease Caregiver Burden and Improve Psychological Well-Being.

Interventions to reduce caregiver burden are of great interest as the number of informal family caregivers continues to grow. The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of an online mindfulness meditation intervention for community-dwelling older adult caregivers and to evaluate its impact on quality of life, caregiver burden, and psychological well-being. A total of 40 caregivers were recruited from 2 community center support groups to participate in an 8-week online mindfulness intervention. Pre and post surveys were administered. Retention rates were high with 55% completing the post surveys and attending at least 5 out of 8 sessions. Matched pairs t test indicated that the intervention reduced caregiver burden, perceived stress, anxiety, and loneliness and improved mental well-being. Online interventions offer flexibility for caregivers regardless of their responsibilities. Future research should expand this opportunity and explore the scalability of online mindfulness interventions.