Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment: Problems and Solutions.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) afflicts over 29 million individuals and causes more than 140,000 deaths annually in the United States. A heuristic framework for AUD includes a three-stage cycle-binge/intoxication, withdrawal/negative affect, and preoccupation/anticipation-that provides a starting point for exploring the heterogeneity of AUD with regard to treatment. Effective behavioral health treatments and US Food and Drug Administration-approved medications are available but greatly underutilized, creating a major treatment gap. This review outlines challenges that face the alcohol field in closing this treatment gap and offers solutions, including broadening end points for the approval of medications for the treatment of AUD; increasing the uptake of screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment; addressing stigma; implementing a heuristic definition of recovery; engaging early treatment; and educating health-care professionals and the public about challenges that are associated with alcohol misuse. Additionally, this review focuses on broadening potential targets for the development of medications for AUD by utilizing the three-stage heuristic model of addiction that outlines domains of dysfunction in AUD and the mediating neurobiology of AUD.

Celebrating organizational history triggers social identity threat among Black Americans.

Many mainstream organizations celebrate their historical successes. In their history, however, they often marginalized racial minorities, women, and other underrepresented groups. We suggest that when organizations celebrate their histories, even without mentioning historical marginalization, they can undermine belonging and intentions to join the organization among historically marginalized groups. Four experiments demonstrate that Black participants who were exposed to an organization that celebrated their history versus the present showed reduced belonging and intentions to participate in the organization. These effects were mediated by expectations of biased treatment in the organization. Further, when organizations had a history of Black people in power, celebrating history was no longer threatening, highlighting that the negative effects of celebrating history are most likely when organizations are or are assumed to be majority-White and have treated Black Americans poorly. Taken together, these findings suggest that emphasizing organizational history can be a source of social identity threat among Black Americans.

A scalable phenotyping approach for female floral organ development and senescence in the absence of pollination in wheat.

In the absence of pollination, female reproductive organs senesce, leading to an irrevocable loss in the reproductive potential of the flower, which directly affects seed set. In self-pollinating crops like wheat (Triticum aestivum), the post-anthesis viability of unpollinated carpels has been overlooked, despite its importance for hybrid seed production systems. To advance our knowledge of carpel development in the absence of pollination, we created a high-throughput phenotyping approach to quantify stigma and ovary morphology. We demonstrate the suitability of the approach, which uses light-microscopy imaging and machine learning, for the analysis of floral organ traits in field-grown plants using fresh and fixed samples. We show that the unpollinated carpel undergoes a well-defined initial growth phase, followed by a peak phase in which stigma area reaches its maximum and the radial expansion of the ovary slows, and a final deterioration phase. These developmental dynamics were consistent across years and could be used to classify male-sterile cultivars. This phenotyping approach provides a new tool for examining carpel development, which we hope will advance research into female fertility of wheat.

Maize stigmas react differently to self- and cross-pollination and fungal invasion.

During sexual reproduction in flowering plants, tip-growing pollen tubes travel from the stigma inside the maternal tissues of the pistil towards ovules. In maize (Zea mays L.), the stigma is highly elongated, forming thread-like strands known as silks. Only compatible pollen tubes successfully penetrate and grow through the transmitting tract of the silk to reach the ovules. Like pollen, fungal spores germinate at the surface of silks and generate tube-like structures (hyphae) penetrating silk tissue. To elucidate commonalities and differences between silk responses to these distinctive invading cells, we compared growth behavior of the various invaders as well as the silk transcriptome after self-pollination, cross-pollination and infection using two different fungi. We report that self-pollination triggers mainly senescence genes, whereas incompatible pollen from Tripsacum dactyloides leads to downregulation of rehydration, microtubule, and cell wall-related genes, explaining the slower pollen tube growth and arrest. Invasion by the ascomycete Fusarium graminearum triggers numerous defense responses including the activation of monolignol biosynthesis and NAC as well as WRKY transcription factor genes, whereas responses to the basidiomycete Ustilago maydis are generally much weaker. We present evidence that incompatible pollination and fungal infection trigger transcriptional reprograming of maize silks cell wall. Pathogen invasion also activates the phytoalexin biosynthesis pathway.

Iatrogenic harm in functional neurological disorder.

Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) is continuing to gain increasing recognition globally as a valid and potentially treatable disorder. Iatrogenic harm towards patients with FND is significant however, and has been around for centuries. Despite advances in our understanding around the aetiology, pathophysiology, and treatment of FND, many aspects of such harm continue to persist. Avoidance of iatrogenic harm has been highlighted by clinicians as one of the most important therapeutic considerations in FND, however, the sources and range of potential harms, or indeed ways to mitigate them, have not been previously summarised. Using a combination of clinical and research experience and scoping review methodology, this review aims to describe the main sources of iatrogenic harm towards patients with FND, including harm from misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis and treatment, direct harm from professional interactions, other stigma-related harms, harm related to diagnostic overshadowing and over-diagnosis of FND. We also describe some potential ways to address and prevent such harms, such as ways to reduce misdiagnosis with a focus on rule in signs, optimising teaching and communication, ensuring parity of FND with other medical conditions, and continued integration of patient and professional organisations.

Lung Disease and Social Justice: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease as a Manifestation of Structural Violence.

Lung health, the development of lung disease, and how well a person with lung disease is able to live all depend on a wide range of societal factors. These systemic factors that adversely affect people and cause injustice can be thought of as "structural violence." To make the causal processes relating to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) more apparent, and the responsibility to interrupt or alleviate them clearer, we have developed a taxonomy to describe this. It contains five domains: 1) avoidable lung harms (processes impacting lung development, processes that disadvantage lung health in particular groups across the life course), 2) diagnostic delay (healthcare factors; norms and attitudes that mean COPD is not diagnosed in a timely way, denying people with COPD effective treatment), 3) inadequate COPD care (ways in which the provision of care for people with COPD falls short of what is needed to ensure they are able to enjoy the best possible health, considered as healthcare resource allocation and norms and attitudes influencing clinical practice), 4) low status of COPD (ways COPD as a condition and people with COPD are held in less regard and considered less of a priority than other comparable health problems), and 5) lack of support (factors that make living with COPD more difficult than it should be, i.e., socioenvironmental factors and factors that promote social isolation). This model has relevance for policymakers, healthcare professionals, and the public as an educational resource to change clinical practices and priorities and stimulate advocacy and activism with the goal of the elimination of COPD.

The transcriptome of soybean reproductive tissues subjected to water deficit, heat stress, and a combination of water deficit and heat stress.

Global warming and climate change are driving an alarming increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events, such as droughts, heat waves, and their combination, inflicting heavy losses to agricultural production. Recent studies revealed that the transcriptomic responses of different crops to water deficit (WD) or heat stress (HS) are very different from that to a combination of WD + HS. In addition, it was found that the effects of WD, HS, and WD + HS are significantly more devastating when these stresses occur during the reproductive growth phase of crops, compared to vegetative growth. As the molecular responses of different reproductive and vegetative tissues of plants to WD, HS, or WD + HS could be different from each other and these differences could impact many current and future attempts to enhance the resilience of crops to climate change through breeding and/or engineering, we conducted a transcriptomic analysis of different soybean (Glycine max) tissues to WD, HS, and WD + HS. Here we present a reference transcriptomic dataset that includes the response of soybean leaf, pod, anther, stigma, ovary, and sepal to WD, HS, and WD + HS conditions. Mining this dataset for the expression pattern of different stress response transcripts revealed that each tissue had a unique transcriptomic response to each of the different stress conditions. This finding is important as it suggests that enhancing the overall resilience of crops to climate change could require a coordinated approach that simultaneously alters the expression of different groups of transcripts in different tissues in a stress-specific manner.

Transcriptome disclosure of hormones inducing stigma exsertion in Nicotiana tabacum by corolla shortening.

BACKGROUND: Stigma exsertion is an essential agricultural trait that can promote cross-pollination to improve hybrid seed production efficiency. However, the molecular mechanism controlling stigma exsertion remains unknown. RESULTS: In this study, the Nicotiana tabacum cv. K326 and its two homonuclear-heteroplasmic lines, MSK326 (male-sterile) and MSK326SE (male-sterile and stigma exserted), were used to investigate the mechanism of tobacco stigma exsertion. A comparison of the flowers between the three lines showed that the stigma exsertion of MSK326SE was mainly due to corolla shortening. Therefore, the corollas of the three lines were sampled and presented for RNA-seq analysis, which found 338 candidate genes that may cause corolla shortening. These genes were equally expressed in K326 and MSK326, but differentially expressed in MSK326SE. Among these 338 genes, 15 were involved in hormone synthesis or signal transduction pathways. Consistently, the content of auxin, dihydrozeatin, gibberellin, and jasmonic acid was significantly decreased in the MSK326SE corolla, whereas abscisic acid levels were significantly increased. Additionally, seven genes involved in cell division, cell cycle, or cell expansion were identified. Protein-protein interaction network analysis identified 45 nodes and 79 protein interactions, and the largest module contained 20 nodes and 52 protein interactions, mainly involved in the hormone signal transduction and pathogen defensive pathways. Furthermore, a putative hub gene coding a serine/threonine-protein kinase was identified for the network. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that hormones may play a key role in regulating tobacco stigma exsertion induced by corolla shortening.

Systematic Review of Scales for Measuring Infectious Disease-Related Stigma.

Infectious disease outbreaks are associated with substantial stigma, which can have negative effects on affected persons and communities and on outbreak control. Thus, measuring stigma in a standardized and validated manner early in an outbreak is critical to disease control. We reviewed existing scales used to assess stigma during outbreaks. Our findings show that many different scales have been developed, but few have been used more than once, have been adequately validated, or have been tested in different disease and geographic contexts. We found that scales were usually developed too slowly to be informative early during an outbreak and were published a median of 2 years after the first case of an outbreak. A rigorously developed, transferable stigma scale is needed to assess and direct responses to stigma during infectious disease outbreaks.

Measuring internalized health-related stigma across health conditions: development and validation of the I-HEARTS Scale.

BACKGROUND: Health-related stigma and its internalization among individuals with chronic health conditions contribute to impaired mental and physical health and quality of life. Research on health-related stigma has been siloed, with disease-specific measures that may not capture the experiences of individuals with multiple health conditions and that prevent comparisons across health conditions. The current study aimed to develop and test a transdiagnostic measure of internalized health-related stigma for use among adults with different physical health conditions. METHODS: An existing measure of internalized mental health stigma was adapted to assess stigma due to chronic physical health conditions following COSMIN procedures, with input from advisory boards of community members living with a range of stigmatized health conditions (obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, skin diseases, HIV, chronic pain, and cancers) and of health professionals who specialized in these conditions. The new Internalized Health-Related Stigma (I-HEARTS) Scale was tested in an online sample of 300 adults with these health conditions, recruited from ResearchMatch. Additional psychosocial measures of mental health and quality of life were administered, and participants provided information about their health conditions and demographic characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis and tests of reliability and validity were conducted to determine the psychometric properties of the I-HEARTS Scale, and k-means clustering and receiver of characteristic curve analysis were used to determine a clinically meaningful cutoff score indicating high levels of internalized stigma. RESULTS: Factor analysis results yielded a 25-item scale with a 3-factor solution, with subscales of Perceived and Anticipated Stigma, Stereotype Application and Self-Devaluation, and Stigma Resistance. Psychometric properties for internal consistency, inter-item and item-total correlations, and test-retest reliability were strong. Certain demographics (e.g., younger age) and characteristics related to health conditions (e.g., greater symptom severity) were associated with higher levels of internalized stigma. I-HEARTS Scale scores correlated moderately to strongly with related but distinct psychosocial measures, and a cutoff score of 3.40 or higher on the 1-7 rating scale was determined to indicate clinically meaningful levels of internalized stigma. CONCLUSIONS: The I-HEARTS Scale is a reliable and valid measure for the assessment of internalized health-related stigma among adults with varied stigmatized chronic health conditions. STUDY PRE-REGISTRATION: https://osf.io/84c5d/?view_only=87238512f6d6475c87f8f64280a8a15f .

Barriers to HIV testing and possible interventions to improve access to HIV healthcare among migrants, with a focus on migrant women: Results from a European survey.

BACKGROUND: According to European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reports, women and migrants are more likely to have delayed HIV diagnosis (CD4 <350 cells/mm3). As a follow-up to a previously published systematic review revealing a range of barriers to HIV testing among migrant women, the aim of the present study was to identify barriers to HIV testing from the perspective of service providers and to formulate possible interventions to improve access to HIV healthcare among migrants in Europe, with an emphasis on migrant women. METHODS: Between November 2021 and February 2022 an online survey, consisting of 20 questions, was forwarded to 178 stakeholders and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working with migrant populations in 33 countries from the World Health Organization (WHO) European region. RESULTS: Forty-three responses from 14 countries were analysed. Most respondents (70%) judged migrants' access to healthcare as worse than that for the resident native population. Only 2/11 prevention interventions were available to all in at least 50% of participating countries. The three main barriers to accessing healthcare for migrant women and reasons for late HIV diagnosis among migrant women were stigma and discrimination, language barriers, and cultural barriers. CONCLUSIONS: Many HIV prevention interventions are not free of charge for all within Europe. The results of this survey show that migrant women face many barriers to accessing healthcare and that these might contribute to late HIV diagnosis. Simplification of access to free healthcare for all, more awareness raising about HIV screening and prevention among migrant women, and more migrant-focused outreach programmes are suggested to improve migrant women's access to HIV healthcare in Europe.

Prevalence and sociodemographic determinants of public stigma towards people with HIV and its impact on HIV testing uptake: A cross-sectional study in 64 low- and middle-income countries.

BACKGROUND: HIV stigma and discrimination are drivers of adverse HIV outcomes because they deter individuals from engaging in the HIV care continuum. We estimate the prevalence of public stigma towards people with HIV, investigate individuals' sociodemographic determinants for reporting stigmatizing attitudes, and test the impact of HIV stigma on HIV testing uptake. METHODS: This was an observational study based on an analysis of cross-sectional surveys from 64 low- and middle-income countries. We used nationally representative survey data for the population aged 15-49 years from 2015 to 2021, which was the latest available data. HIV public stigma was measured using an index of two questions about attitudes towards people with HIV. First, prevalence estimates of HIV stigma were calculated by country, across countries, and by sociodemographic characteristics. Second, country fixed-effects multivariable logistic regression models were fit to assess sociodemographic determinants of holding stigmatizing attitudes towards people with HIV. Additional logistic regression models assessed country-level income and HIV prevalence as determinants of stigma and assessed the role of HIV public stigma as a driver of testing uptake. RESULTS: A total of 1 172 841 participants were included in the study. HIV stigma was prevalent in all countries, ranging from 12.87% in Rwanda to 90.58% in Samoa. There was an inverse dose-response association between HIV stigma and educational level, wealth quintile, and age group, whereby higher levels of each were associated with lower odds of holding stigmatized attitudes towards people with HIV. The odds of stigmatized attitudes were lower among men and individuals with adequate knowledge of HIV. HIV stigma was lower in countries with greater gross domestic product per capita and HIV prevalence. Holding stigmatized attitudes towards people with HIV was associated with lower testing uptake, including having ever tested or having tested in the last year. CONCLUSION: HIV stigma is present to a highly varying degree in all countries studied, so different approaches to reducing stigma towards people with HIV are required across settings. Action to eliminate HIV stigma is crucial if we are to progress towards ending HIV because holding stigmatized attitudes towards people with HIV was associated with reduced testing.

Preliminary Impact of Group-Based Interventions on Stigma, Mental Health, and Treatment Adherence Among Adolescents Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Uganda.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the preliminary impact of group cognitive behavioral therapy and multiple family group-based family strengthening to address HIV stigma and improve the mental health functioning of adolescents living with HIV in Uganda. STUDY DESIGN: We analyzed data from the Suubi4Stigma study, a 2-year pilot randomized clinical trial that recruited adolescents living with HIV (10-14 years) and their caregivers (n = 89 dyads), from 9 health clinics. We fitted separate three-level mixed-effects linear regression models to test the effect of the interventions on adolescent outcomes at 3 and 6 months post intervention initiation. RESULTS: The average age was 12.2 years and 56% of participants were females. Participants in the multiple family group-based family strengthening intervention reported lower levels of internalized stigma (mean difference = -0.008, 95% CI = -0.015, -0.001, P = .025) and depressive symptoms at 3 months (mean difference = -0.34, 95% CI = -0.53, -0.14, P < .001), compared with usual care. On the other hand, participants in the group cognitive behavioral therapy intervention reported lower levels of anticipated stigma at 3 months (mean difference = -0.039, 95% CI = -0.072, -0.006), P = .013) and improved self-concept at 6 months follow-up (mean difference = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.01, P = .025). CONCLUSION: Outcome trends from this pilot study provide compelling evidence to support testing the efficacy of these group-based interventions on a larger scale. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study is registered in the Clinical trials.gov database (Identifier #: NCT04528732).

Crowdsourcing to increase hepatitis B and C testing and reduce hepatitis stigma among medical students in Bangladesh.

This study addresses the pervasive challenges of low hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) testing rates coupled with the stigma associated with these diseases in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with a special focus on Bangladesh. This study aims to introduce an innovative crowdsourcing intervention that involves medical students, a crucial cohort with the potential to shape healthcare attitudes. Through a structured crowdsourcing approach, the study designs and implements a digital intervention to counter stigma and promote testing among medical students in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Participants submitted brief videos or texts aiming to encourage hepatitis testing and reduce stigma. The call, advertised through meetings, emails, and social media, welcomed entries in English or Bengali over 3 weeks. A panel of six judges evaluated each entry based on clarity, impact potential, innovation, feasibility, and sustainability, awarding prizes to students behind the highest-rated submissions. Seventeen videos and four text messages received an average score of 5.5 among 440 surveyed medical students, predominantly 22 years old (16%) and in their fourth year (21%). After viewing, 360 students underwent screening, identifying two previously undiagnosed HBV cases referred for care; no HCV infections were found. Notably, 41% expressed concerns about individuals with HBV working in hospitals or having a doctor living with HBV. In conclusion, this pilot showcases the power of medical students in spearheading campaigns to counter hepatitis stigma and encourage testing. By utilizing crowdsourcing, the study introduces an innovative approach to a persistent issue in LMICs specially in Bangladesh, offering a model that could potentially be adapted by other regions grappling with similar challenges.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Social Cognition Among People Living with HIV: Implications for Non-Social Cognition and Social Everyday Functioning.

Social cognition-the complex mental ability to perceive social stimuli and negotiate the social environment-has emerged as an important cognitive ability needed for social functioning, everyday functioning, and quality of life. Deficits in social cognition have been well documented in those with severe mental illness including schizophrenia and depression, those along the autism spectrum, and those with other brain disorders where such deficits profoundly impact everyday life. Moreover, subtle deficits in social cognition have been observed in other clinical populations, especially those that may have compromised non-social cognition (i.e., fluid intelligence such as memory). Among people living with HIV (PLHIV), 44% experience cognitive impairment; likewise, social cognitive deficits in theory of mind, prosody, empathy, and emotional face recognition/perception are gradually being recognized. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to summarize the current knowledge of social cognitive ability among PLHIV, identified by 14 studies focused on social cognition among PLHIV, and provides an objective consensus of the findings. In general, the literature suggests that PLHIV may be at-risk of developing subtle social cognitive deficits that may impact their everyday social functioning and quality of life. The causes of such social cognitive deficits remain unclear, but perhaps develop due to (1) HIV-related sequelae that are damaging the same neurological systems in which social cognition and non-social cognition are processed; (2) stress related to coping with HIV disease itself that overwhelms one's social cognitive resources; or (3) may have been present pre-morbidly, possibly contributing to an HIV infection. From this, a theoretical framework is proposed highlighting the relationships between social cognition, non-social cognition, and social everyday functioning.

Identity Concealment May Discourage Health-Seeking Behaviors: Evidence From Sexual-Minority Men During the 2022 Global Mpox Outbreak.

People who conceal their stigmatized identities often experience worse physical health. One possibility for why is that concealment may render certain health-seeking behaviors more difficult. We tested this possibility during the 2022 global mpox outbreak, a public-health emergency that disproportionately affected sexual-minority men. We recruited adult sexual-minority men from Prolific at two time points near the outbreak's peak and attenuation (n = 864 and n = 685, respectively). We found that men who concealed their minority sexual orientations were less likely to (a) receive a vaccine to protect against mpox, (b) receive an mpox test, and (c) report having received an mpox vaccine. The relationship between concealment and vaccine receipt was serially mediated by reduced community connectedness and reduced knowledge of mpox resources. We call for thoughtful consideration of how to reach stigmatized groups with public-health resources, inclusive of those who conceal.

"We're Not Gonna Aid You in Shooting Up": Stigma's Relationship to Harm Reduction in People Who Inject Drugs.

BACKGROUND: Harm reduction, when applied to drug use, prioritizes improving patient-centered health outcomes and reducing drug-related harm. In order for harm reduction strategies to be adopted by people who inject drugs (PWID), they need to be promoted, accessible, and accepted in that population and the community-at-large. While PWID face stigma at multiple levels, less is known about how stigma influences uptake and acceptance of harm reduction services and strategies among PWID. OBJECTIVE: We aim to characterize the stigmatizing experiences PWID have had related to harm reduction and the role of stigma in influencing their acceptance and adoption of harm reduction services and strategies. DESIGN: A qualitative study using in-person, semi-structured interviews. PARTICIPANTS: We recruited hospitalized participants, age 18 and over, with a history of injection drug use. APPROACH: We developed an interview guide asking about various aspects of stigma and participants' experiences with naloxone, syringe service programs, fentanyl test strips, HIV and hepatitis C testing, and any other harm reduction strategies. Key themes were generated using a thematic analysis. We reached thematic saturation at 16 participants. KEY RESULTS: PWID reported multi-level stigma related to harm reduction from themselves, the public, the healthcare system, and the legal and carceral systems. Themes were grouped into four main categories: internalized, interpersonal, intervention, and structural stigma. Stigma across all of these domains negatively impacted the ability of PWID to access harm reduction resources. Positive, non-stigmatizing experiences from others, such as syringe service programs and peer navigators, countered historically negative experiences and promoted greater education and comfort about using harm reduction resources among PWID. CONCLUSIONS: To expand the reach of harm reduction services, it is critical to develop interventions that can reduce the stigma against PWID and harm reduction.

Comparisons of Explicit Weight Bias Across Common Clinical Specialties of US Resident Physicians.

BACKGROUND: Patients with high body weight are persistently stigmatized in medical settings, with studies demonstrating that providers endorse negative stereotypes of, and have lower regard for, higher-weight patients. Very little is known about how this weight bias varies across specialties. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to examine how explicit weight bias varies between resident providers among sixteen of the largest residency specialties in the USA. The identification of these differences will guide the prioritization and targeting of interventions. DESIGN: The current study utilized cross-sectional, observational data. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-nine allopathic medical schools were recruited to participate in this national, longitudinal study. The current study utilized data from 3267 trainees in Year 2 of Residency among those who specialized in one of the most common sixteen residency programs in 2016. MAIN MEASURES: Participants reported demographic information and residency specialties and completed three sets of measures pertaining to explicit weight bias. KEY RESULTS: A significant minority (13-48%) of residents reported slight-to-strong agreement with each anti-fat statement. There was a significant relationship between residency specialty and anti-fat blame (F(15, 3189 = 12.87, p < .001), η2 = .06), anti-fat dislike (F(15, 3189 = 7.01, p < .001), η2 = .03), and attitudes towards obese patients (F(15, 3208 = 17.78, p < .001), η2 = .08). Primary care residents (e.g., family medicine, pediatrics) consistently reported lower levels of weight bias than those in specialty programs (e.g., orthopedic surgery, anesthesiology). CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to report on weight bias in a large, heterogeneous sample of US resident physicians. Problematic levels of weight bias were found in all specialties, with residents in specialty programs generally reporting more bias than those in primary care residencies. Future research should examine which factors contribute to these differences to guide intervention.

Algorithmic fairness in precision psychiatry: analysis of prediction models in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis.

BACKGROUND: Computational models offer promising potential for personalised treatment of psychiatric diseases. For their clinical deployment, fairness must be evaluated alongside accuracy. Fairness requires predictive models to not unfairly disadvantage specific demographic groups. Failure to assess model fairness prior to use risks perpetuating healthcare inequalities. Despite its importance, empirical investigation of fairness in predictive models for psychiatry remains scarce. AIMS: To evaluate fairness in prediction models for development of psychosis and functional outcome. METHOD: Using data from the PRONIA study, we examined fairness in 13 published models for prediction of transition to psychosis (n = 11) and functional outcome (n = 2) in people at clinical high risk for psychosis or with recent-onset depression. Using accuracy equality, predictive parity, false-positive error rate balance and false-negative error rate balance, we evaluated relevant fairness aspects for the demographic attributes 'gender' and 'educational attainment' and compared them with the fairness of clinicians' judgements. RESULTS: Our findings indicate systematic bias towards assigning less favourable outcomes to individuals with lower educational attainment in both prediction models and clinicians' judgements, resulting in higher false-positive rates in 7 of 11 models for transition to psychosis. Interestingly, the bias patterns observed in algorithmic predictions were not significantly more pronounced than those in clinicians' predictions. CONCLUSIONS: Educational bias was present in algorithmic and clinicians' predictions, assuming more favourable outcomes for individuals with higher educational level (years of education). This bias might lead to increased stigma and psychosocial burden in patients with lower educational attainment and suboptimal psychosis prevention in those with higher educational attainment.

Racism in psychiatry and the case of presentism.

Acknowledging the impact of imperialist and colonialist attitudes on the development of psychiatry allows for the recovery of the work of practitioners whose contribution may have been overlooked, as well as recognising racist attitudes in predominant thinking. These combined approaches aid in the construction of a more complete critical history.