Examining Different Strategies for Stigma Reduction and Mental Health Promotion in Asian Men in Toronto.

Mental illness stigma has detrimental effects on health and wellbeing. Approaches to address stigma in racialized populations in Western nations need to emphasize inclusivity, social justice, and sociocultural intersectionality of determinants of health. The current paper evaluates three intervention approaches to reduce stigma of mental illness among Asian men in Toronto, Canada. Participants received one of four group interventions: psychoeducation, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Contact-based Empowerment Education (CEE), and a combination of ACT+CEE. Self-report measures on stigma (CAMI, ISMI) and social change (SJS) were administered before and after the intervention. A total of 535 Asian men completed the interventions. Overall analyses found that all intervention approaches were successful in reducing stigma and promoting social change. Subscale differences suggest that CEE may be more broadly effective in reducing mental illness stigmatizing attitudes while ACT may be more specifically effective in reducing internalized stigma. More work needs to be done to elucidate mechanisms that contribute to socioculturally-informed mental illness stigma interventions for racialized communities and traditionally marginalized populations.

"I tend to forget bad things": Immigrant and refugee young men's narratives of distress.

Distress among young immigrant and refugee men has drawn increasing research attention in recent years. Nuanced understandings of distress are needed to inform mental health and public health programming. The purpose of this research was to examine distress from the perspectives of young immigrant and refugee men living in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Thirty-three young men (aged 15-22 years) from diverse immigrant and refugee backgrounds participated in interviews, which were conducted between 2014 and 2015. Data were examined using narrative analysis and theories of masculinities. Three narratives were identified-norming distress, acknowledging distress as ongoing, and situating distress. The findings reveal that the narratives offer different frames through which distress was rendered a norm, or acknowledged and situated in relation to the participants' relationships and to masculine discourses that shaped their expressions of distress. The findings can inform initiatives aimed at providing spaces for diverse young men to acknowledge their distress and to receive support for mental health challenges.

"Just as Canadian as Anyone Else"? Experiences of Second-Class Citizenship and the Mental Health of Young Immigrant and Refugee Men in Canada.

In recent years, the experiences of immigrant and refugee young men have drawn attention worldwide. Human-induced environmental disasters, local and global conflicts, and increasingly inequitable distributions of wealth have shaped transnational migration patterns. Canada is home to a large immigrant and refugee population, particularly in its urban areas, and supporting the mental health and well-being of these communities is of critical importance. The aim of this article is to report findings from a qualitative study on the social context of mental health among immigrant and refugee young men, with a focus on their migration and resettlement experiences. Informed by the conceptual lens of social context, a thematic narrative analysis approach was used to examine qualitative data from individual and group interviews with 33 young men (age 15 to 22 years) self-identified as immigrants or refugees and were living in Greater Vancouver, western Canada. Three thematic narratives were identified: a better life, living the (immigrant) dream, and starting again from way below. The narratives characterized the social context for immigrant and refugee young men and were connected by a central theme of negotiating second-class citizenship. Implications include the need for mental health frameworks that address marginalization and take into account the contexts and discourses that shape the mental health of immigrant and refugee populations in Canada and worldwide.

Pre-crosslinked polymeric collagen in 3-D models of mechanically stiff tissues: blended collagen polymer hydrogels for rapid layer fabrication.

Currently one factor hindering the development of collagen hydrogel constructs for tissue engineering is the mismatch between initial cellularity and mechanical strength. The main advantage of collagen hydrogel tissue constructs is their ability to support interstitially seeded cells. However, cells are sensitive to their environment, in particular, substrate stiffness, which cannot easily be replicated within hydrogels without cytotoxic cross-linking treatment. In this study, pre-crosslinked polymeric collagen fibrils are introduced as a starting material, thereby avoiding artificial cross-linking. Shear aggregation of this material in solution results in fibril alignment, but cell addition is only possible when polymeric collagen is blended with its monomeric counterparts to slow the aggregation of collagen fibrils. The hydrogel can then be brought to physiological collagen density by plastic compression. Interstitially seeded fibroblasts were supported for 14days. Although compression of blended gels resulted in some cell death due to increased rate of fluid expulsion, not normally seen in conventional collagen hydrogels, the surviving cell population recovers during subsequent culture. Importantly, the compression process can be controlled and customized to limit cell damage. This is the first report of native polymeric collagen used in a tissue engineering context, for the rapid production of a stiff collagen-cell constructs.

Mechanical anisotropy in compressed collagen produced by localised photodynamic cross-linking.

Orientated focal cross-linking can be used to generate surface anisotropy, improve material stiffness and layer integration for the production of a stable 3D construct. Riboflavin (0.25 mM) diffusion into plastically compressed (PC) collagen gel was assessed by measuring the diffusion depth of riboflavin with time. The dynamic force analyser was used for peel force testing for interlayer cross-linking and material stiffness in perpendicular axis after orientated/topical cross-linking. One minute riboflavin diffusion time on either surface will saturate >12% of the collagen gel. Bonding strength doubled between PC collagen gel layers with a 5 min increase in cross-linking time (between 4 and 9 min) and break stress was increased significantly after cross-linking. Importantly, mechanical anisotropy was introduced in the break stress using orientated stripes of riboflavin in cross-linking, almost doubling the break stress parallel to the stripes. Limited riboflavin penetration in 1 min means that surface photo-dynamic cross-linking will enhance deep cell survival within the gel. Riboflavin mediated focal/orientated cross-linking generated new predictable anisotropy at the construct. The increase in bonding strength between layers after cross-linking enhances layer integration and graded surface stiffness will impact on cellular/mechanical properties of compressed gels.