Understanding of evidence-based mental health care and the perceived importance of scientific information in a sample of U.S. adults.

OBJECTIVES: This online survey sought to qualitatively ascertain the extent to which a sample of U.S. adults understood the concept of evidence-based mental health care (EBMHC). Additional goals included assessing the perceived importance of scientific information in EBMHC, and examining whether understanding EBMHC and science values varied as a function of participant factors. METHOD: Participants (N = 221) defined EBMHC and rated the importance of scientific information. Open-ended EBMHC definitions were content-coded, and binomial logistic and linear regressions examined predictors of accurately defining EBMHC and of the perceived importance of scientific information. RESULTS: Participants endorsed seven definitions of EBMHC, and only 20% defined it accurately. Having greater knowledge about mental health conditions was associated with understanding EBMHC and with the higher perceived importance of scientific information. Greater help-seeking efficacy also predicted higher perceived importance of scientific information. CONCLUSIONS: Results support customized strategies to promote basic EBMHC education among U.S. adults.

Neuroticism as an underlying construct in youth emotional disorders.

Structural research on neuroticism, as indicated by Big Five personality traits and/or internalizing symptoms, has been conducted with youth. However, no structural research has investigated neuroticism as characterized by transdiagnostic risk factors such as distress tolerance (DT), negative affect (NA), and avoidance. No study has investigated whether DT, NA, and avoidance, as a group, are associated with anxiety, depressive, obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms, and independent evaluator (lE)-rated symptom severity in a clinical sample of youth. The purpose of the current investigation was to understand the proportion of variance in anxiety, depressive, OC symptoms, and independent evaluator-rated global symptom severity by a latent construct of neuroticism, as indicated by these modifiable features in youth with emotional disorders among a sample of 121 adolescents (ages 13-18, 51.2% female). A latent neuroticism factor was significantly associated with greater youth- and parent-reported anxiety, depressive, and OC symptoms, and greater IE-rated global severity.