Screening for mental health problems in school can reduce and prevent later psychotic experiences
IMAGE: PROFESSOR MARY CANNON, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRIC EPIDEMIOLOGY AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY, RCSI UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH SCIENCES view more
CREDIT: RAY LOHAN/ RCSI
Wednesday, 8 February 2023: In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences have found that a school-based screen for mental health problems, combined with a referral system, can be effective at improving and protecting the mental health of adolescents.
The research, published in BMC Public Health, is the first study to examine the impact of school-based interventions on preventing psychotic experiences, an early indicator of developing mental disorders in children and adolescents. Of the interventions tested, one consisting of a universal screener and selective intervention was found to both reduce the rates of, and prevent psychotic experiences at 12-month follow up.
Professor Mary Cannon, Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Youth Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, RCSI, commented: “Prevention has two key objectives; to reduce the symptoms of mental health disorders, and prevent new incidence of symptoms. This study demonstrates that school-based interventions have the potential to be effective at both key aims of prevention, making a positive impact on public mental health.”
Lead author and RCSI PhD student, Lorna Staines commented: “Psychotic experiences are particularly common in the adolescent population and are associated with a four-fold increased risk for psychotic disorder, and a three-fold increased risk for any mental disorder. This study has for the first time identified school-based programmes as an effective route to prevent psychotic experiences.”
The lead authors of this study are supported through funding provided by the European Research Council Consolidator Award (iHEAR). The SEYLE project was supported through Coordination Theme 1 (Health) of the European Union Seventh Framework Programme. Further support was provided by a Wellcome Trust Innovations Award, a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the European Regional Development Fund and FutureNeuro industry partners.
ENDS
About RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences is a world-leading university for Good Health and Well-being. Ranked in the world top 50 for its contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2022, it is exclusively focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide.
RCSI is an international not-for-profit university, headquartered in Dublin. It is among the top 250 universities worldwide in the World University Rankings (2023). RCSI has been awarded Athena Swan Bronze accreditation for positive gender practice in higher education.
Visit the RCSI MyHealth Expert Directory to find the details of our experts across a range of healthcare issues and concerns. Recognising their responsibility to share their knowledge and discoveries to empower people with information that leads them to better health, these clinicians and researchers are willing to engage with the media in their area of expertise.
JOURNAL
BMC Public Health
DOI
Childhood mental health problems
resulting from early-life adversity drive
poorer cognitive performance in
adolescence, study suggests
Early-life adversity has long-term effects on children’s mental health, which in turn affects cognitive functioning as teenagers, say researchers. However, if mental health improves over time this outcome can be alleviated
Peer-Reviewed PublicationPRESS RELEASE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Paper available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gT05MtcRuvRYPL6cPTazut7672Z5UsDN?usp=share_link
Early-life adversity – such as poverty, illness or family conflict – has long been linked to mental health difficulties and poorer cognitive functioning as children grow up. But how these factors interact and evolve over time has so far been unknown.
Now, a new study by researchers at the University of Cambridge, together with colleagues in Nigeria, has revealed the interplay between early-life adversity, mental health difficulties and cognitive functioning over the course of childhood. The results, published today in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, show that childhood mental health influences the extent to which early-life adversity impacts on later cognitive functioning.
Scientists analysed data from the ongoing Millennium Cohort Study, which has assessed 13,287 children on a variety of tests at ages three, five, seven, eleven and fourteen. They selected measures of early-life adversity (which they classified as taking place before the age of three), mental health and cognitive functioning – namely, working memory and vocabulary.
The team from the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge used a statistical technique designed to tease out the extent to which mental health affects the relationship between early-life adversity and cognitive functioning later in childhood.
They found that early-life adversity is associated with poorer performance on working memory and vocabulary through its impact on mental health across childhood. For example, poorer mental health across ages 3-14 resulting from early-life adversity accounted for 59% of the variance in poorer working memory performance at age 11 and explained 70% of poorer performance in vocabulary at age 14.
The researchers showed that early-life adversity at age three strongly predicted poorer mental health across ages 3-14, with the association strongest at three but getting progressively weaker over time. In other words, children who experienced early-life adversity were most likely to experience mental health difficulties from age three to age fourteen, although poorer mental health was greater at age 3 than in the later years. This suggests that exposure to early-life adversity at this developmentally sensitive time has a negative long-term impact on mental health.
They also found that decreases in mental health difficulties over time were associated with improvements in working memory and vocabulary. This suggests that if behavioural and psychological difficulties can be addressed when children are young, the effects of early-life adversity on later cognition could be alleviated. This finding has important implications for clinicians, educators and parents involved in interventions.
“Our findings suggest that early-life adversity can lead to prolonged periods of poor mental health, which in turn may have lasting effects on cognitive performance, such as working memory and vocabulary,” said lead author Dr Tochukwu Nweze from the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit.
“We already know that poor mental health and cognition are associated with numerous behavioural problems which affect life quality and satisfaction. This reinforces the need for early interventions to give children the best possible life-outcomes.”
The researchers say that, at a time of rising mental health challenges among teenagers and young people, made worse by contemporary risk factors such as conflicts, pandemics and climate change, educators and clinicians need to focus on building resilience in children who have experienced early-life adversity.
“In this way, we can hope to break the self-sustaining mental health difficulties faced by individuals who have experienced early-life adversity,” said Dr Nweze.
The research was funded by Cambridge Trust under the Cambridge African Scholarship scheme.
ENDS.
Reference:
Tochukwu Nweze et al., Childhood mental health difficulties mediate the long-term association between early-life adversity at age 3 and poorer cognitive functioning at ages 11 and 14, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 8 February 2023, DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13757
Contact details:
Charis Goodyear, Communications Coordinator, University of Cambridge Office of External Affairs and Communications Charis.Goodyear@admin.cam.ac.uk
Tochukwu Nweze, University of Cambridge ejiofortochukwunweze@gmail.com
About the University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is one of the world’s leading universities, with a rich history of radical thinking dating back to 1209. Its mission is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
Cambridge was second in the influential 2023 QS World University Rankings, the highest rated institution in the UK.
The University comprises 31 autonomous Colleges and over 100 departments, faculties and institutions. Its 20,000 students include around 9,000 international students from 147 countries. In 2022, 72.5% of its new undergraduate students were from state schools and more than 25% from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Cambridge research spans almost every discipline, from science, technology, engineering and medicine through to the arts, humanities and social sciences, with multi-disciplinary teams working to address major global challenges. In the Times Higher Education’s rankings based on the UK Research Excellence Framework, the University was rated as the highest scoring institution covering all the major disciplines.
The University sits at the heart of the ‘Cambridge cluster’, in which more than 5,200 knowledge-intensive firms employ more than 71,000 people and generate £19 billion in turnover. Cambridge has the highest number of patent applications per 100,000 residents in the UK.
JOURNAL
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Data/statistical analysis
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
Childhood mental health difficulties mediate the long-term association between early-life adversity at age 3 and poorer cognitive functioning at ages 11 and 14
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
8-Feb-2023
COI STATEMENT
The research was funded by Cambridge Trust under the Cambridge African Scholarship scheme.
How does early-life adversity affect childhood mental health and cognitive function?
New research published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry indicates that early-life adversity—such as homelessness, parental violence, or longstanding illness in the family—may lead to mental health challenges, which in turn have adverse consequences for the development of cognitive abilities during childhood.
In the study of 13,287 children in the UK, adversity at age 3 years was strongly associated with poorer mental health across all ages from 3 to 14 years. Also, adversity predicted poorer working memory at age 11 and vocabulary at age 14. The impact of adversity on cognition was partially due to its negative effects on mental health during development.
“Our findings not only highlight the deleterious effects of adversity on mental health and cognitive abilities but also reveal one of the mechanisms through which these effects manifest and persist over a long period of time. Prolonged periods of poor mental health as a result of early-life adversity, may have lasting or partially cumulative effects on cognitive abilities of working memory and vocabulary,” said the lead author of the paper, Tochukwu Nweze, PhD, a recent graduate of University of Cambridge. “At a time of rising mental health challenges among teenagers and young people, exacerbated by contemporary environmental risk factors, we suggest that educators in collaboration with clinicians could foster greater resilience by attempting to break this vicious cycle of persistent and self-sustaining mental health difficulties faced by individuals who experienced early adversity through some sort of deliberate and targeted clinical intervention.”
URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.13757
Additional Information
NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Sara Henning-Stout, newsroom@wiley.com.
About the Journal
The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP) is widely recognised to be the leading international journal covering both child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry. JCPP publishes the highest quality clinically relevant research in psychology, psychiatry and related disciplines.
About Wiley
Wiley is one of the world’s largest publishers and a global leader in scientific research and career-connected education. Founded in 1807, Wiley enables discovery, powers education, and shapes workforces. Through its industry-leading content, digital platforms, and knowledge networks, the company delivers on its timeless mission to unlock human potential. Visit us at Wiley.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
JOURNAL
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
ARTICLE TITLE
Childhood mental health difficulties mediate the long-term association between early-life adversity at age 3 and poorer cognitive functioning at ages 11 and 14
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
8-Feb-2023
No comments:
Post a Comment