The mental health of Australians bereaved during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic: a latent class analysis.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many areas of life, including culturally accepted practices at end-of-life care, funeral rites, and access to social, community, and professional support. This survey investigated the mental health outcomes of Australians bereaved during this time to determine how these factors might have impacted bereavement outcomes. METHODS: An online survey indexing pandemic and bereavement experiences, levels of grief, depression, anxiety, and health, work, and social impairment. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify groups of individuals who shared similar symptom patterns. Multinomial regressions identified pandemic-related, loss-related, and sociodemographic correlates of class membership. RESULTS: 1911 Australian adults completed the survey. The LCA identified four classes: low symptoms (46.8%), grief (17.3%), depression/anxiety (17.7%), and grief/depression/anxiety (18.2%). The latter group reported the highest levels of health, work, and social impairment. The death of a child or partner and an inability to care for the deceased due to COVID-19 public health measures were correlated with grief symptoms (with or without depression and anxiety). Preparedness for the person's death and levels of pandemic-related loneliness and social isolation differentiated all four classes. Unemployment was associated with depression/anxiety (with or without grief). CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 had profound impacts for the way we lived and died, with effects that are likely to ricochet through society into the foreseeable future. These lessons learned must inform policymakers and healthcare professionals to improve bereavement care and ensure preparedness during and following future predicted pandemics to prevent negative impacts.

An exploration of gender and prolonged grief symptoms using network analysis.

BACKGROUND: Gender has been proposed as a potentially important predictor of bereavement outcomes. The majority of research in the field has explored this issue by examining gender differences in global grief severity. Findings have been mixed. In this study, we explore potential gender differences in grief using network analysis. This approach examines how individual symptoms relate to and reinforce each other, and so offers potential to shed light on novel aspects of grief expression across genders. METHOD: Graphical lasso networks were constructed using self-report data from 839 spousally bereaved older participants (584 female, 255 male) collected at 2- and 11- months post-bereavement. Edge strength, node strength and global network strength were compared to identify similarities and differences between gender networks across time. RESULTS: At both time points, the strongest connection for both genders was from yearning to pangs of grief. Yearning, pangs of grief, acceptance, bitterness and shock were prominent nodes at time 1. Numbness and meaninglessness emerged as prominent nodes at time 2. Males and females differed in the relative importance of shock at time 1, and the female network had greater overall strength than the male network at time 2. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified many similarities and few differences in the relationships between prolonged grief symptoms for males and females. Findings suggest that future studies should examine alternate sources of variation in grief outcomes. Limitations are discussed.

The experience of pregnancy resulting from Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) treatment: A qualitative Brazilian study.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancies achieved through medical treatments following a period of infertility may demand extra emotional and practical investment from women. AIM: This paper aims at understanding the experience of pregnancy after Assisted Reproductive Technology, and exploring whether this experience is affected by previous failed infertility treatments. METHODS: This paper uses a qualitative approach. Participants were nineteen expectant first-time mothers from Brazil who conceived through Assisted Reproductive Technology treatment. During the third trimester of gestation, a semi-structured interview was administered to assess perceptions of and feelings about treatment and pregnancy. Interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis, and the sample was divided into two groups according to whether it was the participant's first treatment or not. FINDINGS: Themes identified include: tolerance of the demands of treatment and pregnancy, consideration of the mechanics of treatment and pregnancy, and emotionally painful aspects of treatment and pregnancy. Pregnancy itself was regarded as a reward or compensation for the difficulties undergone. Perspectives differed according to whether pregnancy followed the first Assisted Reproductive Technology treatment; those who had undergone previously unsuccessful treatments focused less on the mechanical aspects of the process but were more concerned about possible physical problems. CONCLUSION: The similarities and differences found according to number of treatments attempted should be taken into consideration when providing psychological support for expectant Assisted Reproductive Technology mothers.

Non-genetic and non-gestational parenthood: consequences for parent-child relationships and the psychological well-being of mothers, fathers and children at age 3.

BACKGROUND: Findings are presented of the third phase of a longitudinal study of children conceived by assisted reproduction procedures involving surrogacy and/or donor conception. METHODS: At the time of the child's third birthday, 34 surrogacy families, 41 donor insemination families and 41 oocyte donation families were compared with 67 natural conception families on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of the psychological well-being of the parents, mother-child relationships and the psychological well-being of the child. RESULTS: The differences found between family types reflected higher levels of warmth and interaction between mothers and their 3-year-old children in assisted reproduction families than in families with a naturally conceived child. A higher proportion of surrogacy parents than donor conception parents had told their children about the nature of their birth. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that the absence of a genetic and/or gestational link between parents and their child does not have a negative impact on parent-child relationships or the psychological well-being of mothers, fathers or children at age 3.

Families created by gamete donation: follow-up at age 2.

BACKGROUND: Findings are presented of the second phase of a longitudinal study of families created through gamete donation. METHODS: At the time of the child's second birthday, 46 donor insemination families and 48 egg donation families were compared with 68 natural conception families on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of the psychological well being of the parents, parent-child relationships and the psychological development of the child. RESULTS: The gamete donation mothers showed a trend towards greater pleasure in their child accompanied by a perception of their child as more vulnerable, with egg donation mothers tending towards greater pleasure and donor insemination mothers tending towards greater concern. The fathers did not differ on any of the variables under study. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this recent cohort add further weight to the growing body of research showing that the absence of a genetic link between a parent and a child does not necessarily jeopardize the development of a positive relationship between them.

Disparities in parenting criteria: an exploration of the issues, focusing on adoption and embryo donation.

This paper examines the consistency of parent selection procedures, focusing on adoption and embryo donation. It outlines the current methods of selection and their disparities, and considers reasons for these disparities; namely, the intentionality of the parents, the gestational experience, and the technological imperative. This discussion is followed by an analysis of the ethical validity of these reasons, in terms of their consistency and how well they meet standards of equity and justice. The paper concludes that current approaches to parent selection are unsystematic and inadequate, and discusses the implications of this assessment.

The European study of assisted reproduction families: the transition to adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Findings are presented of the second phase of a European longitudinal study of families created by assisted reproduction. The present investigation reports on data obtained during the child's transition to adolescence. METHODS: A total of 102 IVF families, 94 donor insemination (DI) families, 102 adoptive families, and 102 families with a naturally conceived child were compared on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of parenting and children's psychological well-being. RESULTS: The assisted reproduction families were similar to the adoptive and natural conception families for many of the measures of the quality of parent-child relationships. To the extent that differences were found between the assisted reproduction families and the other family types, these reflected mainly more positive functioning among the assisted reproduction families, with the possible exception of the overinvolvement with their children of a small proportion of assisted reproduction mothers and fathers. The assisted reproduction children were functioning well and did not differ from the adoptive or naturally conceived children on any of the measures of psychological adjustment. However, only 8.6% had been told about their genetic origins. CONCLUSIONS: IVF and DI families with an early adolescent child appear to be functioning well.

The "test-tube" generation: parent-child relationships and the psychological well-being of in vitro fertilization children at adolescence.

The introduction of in vitro fertilization (IVF) at the end of the 20th century constituted a fundamental change in the way in which families could be created, and by the start of the new millennium an increasing number of children have been (and are being) born as a result of this procedure. This article presents findings of a longitudinal study of the first cohort of children conceived by IVF to reach adolescence. Thirty-four IVF families, 49 adoptive families, and 38 families with a naturally conceived child were compared on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of parent-child relationships and children's psychological well-being. The few differences in parent-child relationships that were identified appeared to be associated with the experience of infertility rather than with IVF per se. The IVF children were found to be functioning well and did not differ from the adoptive or naturally conceived children on any of the assessments of social or emotional adjustment.

Specific autobiographical memory following hypnotically induced mood state.

This study investigated the impact of hypnotically induced mood on the specificity of autobiographical memory. High (n = 24) and low (n = 21) hypnotizable participants were administered a hypnotic induction for sad, neutral, or happy mood and were asked to retrieve specific autobiographical memories in response to positive and negative cue words. Whereas high hypnotizable participants in the sad condition provided fewer specific memories in response to positive rather than negative cues, those in the neutral and happy conditions responded similarly to positive and negative cues. Findings suggest that impaired recall of specific memories may be mediated by state factors associated with sad mood. These results point to the utility of hypnotic mood induction as a means to experimentally investigate the relationship between mood and autobiographical memory.

Relationship of encephalomyocarditis virus to cricket paralysis virus of insects.

Cricket paralysis virus was shown to share common antigen(s) with encephalomyocarditis virus (Cardiovirus: Picornaviridae), a virus normally associated with mammals. These viruses must be regarded now as being related strains of one and the same virus. These results pose interesting questions for the taxonomy and ecology of small RNA viruses.

Growth rates at the extremities of limb bones in young horses.

Measurements were made of growth at the extremities of all the long bones of the left limbs of 23 horses between 52 and 104 days of age. Growth rates were more rapid in the younger than in the older animals. Growth was more rapid in the hind limb than in the forelimb. Growth rates were greater for males than in females. Although this age group represents only two of the 60 or so months necessary for maturity to be reached, oxytetracycline bone-labelling produced results which are more precise than measurements obtained by other methods. This study provides a substantial amount of data for an age group of horses whose growth rate has not been well documented.

Antibodies in human sera reacting with an insect pathogenic virus.

Precipitating antibodies to an insect pathogenic RNA virus of Darna trima from East Malaysia have been found in a small percentage of human sera from several different groups of persons in West Malaysia and the United Kingdom. No associated illness was identified. The results suggest that an antigenically related virus or viruses are present in the environment that may be associated with symptomless or inapparent infections in man.

Observations on growth plates in limbs of foals.

Observations were made which may be related to growth plate disorders. They included irregularity and thickening of the growth plate bridging of the plate by bony spicules, distortion of the plate adjacent to foci of fusion, and metaphyseal lipping. These observations are very similar to those found in "epiphysitis." The question had to be asked, where these normal foals or did they have sub-clinical "epiphysitis"?

A system of grading ossification in limbs of foals to assist in radiologic interpretation.

Tetracycline-labeled bones of 23 foals from 52 to 104 days old were sectioned and macroscopically examined to assess the extent of ossification or fusion of ossification centers. A grading system was devised with which to record information about the ossification centers and growth plates. The objective was to define anatomic standards which could contribute toward obtaining an accurate radiologic interpretation. Labeled limb bones of 3 neonatal foals were similarly treated, but grading of these was limited to the consideration of whether each site was still cartilaginous or had commenced to ossify.