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This study aims to evaluate differences between substance dependent men who were arrested for intimate partner violence (IPV) with and without concurrent psychiatric problems.

In total, 63 participants were randomly assigned to manual‐guided group behavioral therapies (cognitive behavioral therapy for substance dependent domestic violence offenders (SADV) or drug counseling (DC)) and assessed across 12 weeks of treatment.

Despite excluding psychotic disorders and bipolar disorders at baseline, 23 percent of clients reported prior mental health treatment. SADV participants with co‐occurring mental health were different than SADV participants without co‐occurring mental health symptoms on both baseline and post‐treatment time periods. SADV participants with co‐occurring mental health symptoms had more pre‐treatment impairments, more drug use during treatment, a trend for more problems with aggressive behaviors throughout treatment and significantly more impairments in anger control subscales at post treatment compared to SADV participants without co‐occurring mental health symptoms.

The findings suggest the need to target and treat co‐occurring psychiatric symptoms and distress among SADV offenders. Perhaps offering clients targeted behavioral or pharmacotherapy adjunctive treatments can help improve treatment outcomes among substance dependent offenders of IPV when mental health problems are present.

This study is one of the first to evaluate differences between substance dependent men arrested for IPV with and without concurrent psychiatric problems. It shows that men who are violent toward their partners tend to have a co‐occurring problem with addiction, yet little is known about differences between substance dependent male offenders who have dual mental health problems.

The purpose of this paper is to review all the research on Somali refugee communities’ “explanatory models” of “mental health” or psychological suffering, and also report original research in order to allow for more contexts on their “mental health” terms to emerge.

The authors talked in a conversational manner with a small number (11) of Somali people (10 females and 1 male), but this was done intensively over time and on multiple occasions. They discussed their community terms for “mental health” issues but in their own contexts and with their own examples.

The results showed that Somali as a community had three main groupings of symptoms: Jinn or spirit possession; waali or “craziness”; and a group of terms for serious anxieties, rumination, worrying and thinking too much. What was new from their broader descriptions of context was that the community discourses were based on particular contexts of the person and their behavior within their life history, rather than aiming to universal categories like the DSM.

Both research and practice on mental health should focus less on universal diagnoses and more on describing the contexts in which the symptoms emerge and how to change those contexts, especially with refugee and other less well-understood groups.

The review and original results support symptom-based or contextual approaches to mental health; we should treat the “mental health” symptoms in their life contexts rather than as a disease or disorder. We can learn from how Somali describe their “mental health” symptoms rather than treat their descriptions as crude forms of the “correct” western diagnostics.

Given rising incidence rates of mental health concerns in the general population it is important for all primary health care practitioners, including chiropractors, to have knowledge of such presentations. Practitioners frequently need to refer clients to appropriate mental health services, manage the biopsychosocial aspects of all conditions they treat, and work in interdisciplinary teams to ensure optimal patient outcomes. The mental health literacy (MHL) of these practitioners may, however, be influenced by both learnt knowledge and common misconceptions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the MHL of a final year Master of Chiropractic student cohort.

In total, 89 students completed an online questionnaire assessing mental health knowledge, misconceptions, perceived value of such knowledge for practicing chiropractors and demographic information.

Student knowledge of the primary symptoms for depression and schizophrenia was competent, similar to community samples. However a high false positive response suggested students were poor at mental health differential diagnosis. A high number of common misconceptions about mental health were also endorsed, particularly in relation to depression, anxiety and suicide. Age and value of such knowledge seemed to predict greater MHL.

The present study offers direction for chiropractic education. In addition to content-based education, MHL may improve through targeting the students’ perceived value of the information for chiropractors and combating common misconceptions. Future research could evaluate the incremental value of these approaches, and assess subsequent behavioural responses such as the students’ confidence in managing patients with mental health concerns, and knowing when to refer on.

Taken together, the current results suggest chiropractic students are able to identify symptoms causing distress; however tend to over-pathologise and endorse false symptoms as indicative of specific mental illnesses. In other words, students are poor at mental health differential diagnosis. Students also seemed to simultaneously hold a large number of misconceptions about mental health in general. It is of great importance to better understand gaps in student knowledge about mental health to prepare them for working with patients in a health setting.

The use of exercise as an intervention to improve health in the general population is well documented. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether an exercise referral scheme can be an effective health promotion tool for male prisoners in Ireland, presenting with mental health symptoms.

This mixed methods study with a pre- and post-intervention design was conducted in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, which has a capacity for approximately 790 prisoners. Reliable and validated symptom assessment scales were used to assess levels of depression, anxiety, stress, self-esteem and anger amongst a sample of 40 prisoners pre- and post-intervention. The scales used were the Depression, Anxiety and Stress scale or DASS-42 (Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995), the Novaco Anger Scale (Novaco, 1994), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and the Zung Self-Rated Anxiety Scale (Zung, 1971). Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with a subset of the participants post-intervention to further test and contextualise the symptom ratings. The data gathered from the self-rating scales were imported into SPSS 22 for statistical testing for significance. Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test was then used to measure significance of changes. Thematic analysis was performed on the qualitative data.

In the post-intervention, significant levels of improvement were achieved in the levels of depression, anxiety (DASS), anxiety (Zung), stress, anger, and self-esteem for 29 of the 30 prisoners who completed the study. The incidence of normal mood scores rose from 33 to 90 per cent after the intervention; the incidence of extremely severe scores for anxiety changed from 40 to 7 per cent, severe stress scores changed from 27 to 3 per cent, normal stress levels rose from 17 to 73 per cent, marked anger ratings reduced from 40 to 3 per cent and low self-esteem levels reduced from 20 per cent of participants pre-intervention to 7 per cent post-intervention. In the main, participants perceived the experiences and outcomes of the intervention positively.

There are some limitations to the design of this study. Operational circumstances within the prison at the start of this study prevented the authors from accessing a larger sample. A control group would add greatly to the study but this was not possible within a single prison setting. The possible influence of extraneous variables such as increased attention and social contact, and more time out of one’s cell may have contributed to improved symptom scores as much as the exercise intervention in this study. This possibility was recognised from the outset but the authors proceeded because the aim was to test if an exercise referral package (and all that inevitably goes with that) would make a difference for symptomatic prisoners.

The organisation and smooth running of the intervention and the positive results therein underpinned the practicality of this project. The significantly positive results contribute new knowledge to the profile of Irish male prisoners’ mental health.

This study could be the foundation for a larger study or set of studies which should include a control group and one or more female prisoner cohorts. The impact of positive changes in prisoners’ mental health on the prison staff and environment could also be researched. This type of study could lead to important social implications in relation to its impact on prisoner rehabilitation.

This study was the first of its kind to explore the effectiveness of exercise referral as a health promotion intervention for Irish male prisoners presenting with mental health symptoms.

The aim of this paper is to explore mental ill health among newly arrived immigrants to Sweden, in relation to their legal status and previous exposure to threats, violence and separation and to investigate how their health care needs were met.

Records of health interviews and examinations performed January 1, 2010 to May 31, 2011, in one of six eligible primary health care centers (PHCC) in Stockholm County, Sweden were analysed.

In total, 555 records were collected and reviewed with regard to: age, sex, legal status (asylum seekers and others), exposure to threats and/or violence, exposure to separation from family member, symptoms or diagnoses, and measures taken. Reported symptoms of mental ill health were labeled mental ill health. Where health interviews led to medical examination, records from these were retrieved to investigate the care offered and given. Reporting symptoms of mental ill health was common (43 percent) among the study population. Exposure to threats and violence and separation was more common among asylum seekers who also tended to be more vulnerable to mental ill health than others who had experienced similar exposure.

The health care system should consider the eco‐social conditions that favor recovery. A more generous policy of access to health care among adult asylum seekers is needed and could be an important part of the social stability during the asylum process and in the integration process.

The study demonstrates the need for more structured studies of mental health among asylum seekers in Sweden.

Methamphetamine users commonly experience induced methamphetamine associated mental health symptoms. Currently, psychosocial treatment is implemented to reduce use; however, to date, the effectiveness of psychosocial treatment in methamphetamine use and the associated mental health symptoms has not been reviewed. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

A systematic literature review was performed by searching databases (PubMed, Embase, Ovid MEDLINE, PsychINFO and CINAHL) and following clear inclusion/exclusion criteria.

In total, 12 studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria, measuring a variety of psychosocial interventions and measuring a variety of different mental health outcomes. Decreased methamphetamine use was observed in the five studies which recorded this.

Most studies in this review were preliminary trials and only three were RCTs. Additionally, methamphetamine use is a particular problem in Japan and is becoming more prevalent in Europe, yet neither primary nor secondary searching identified papers from these regions.

While the findings may not provide sufficient supporting evidence to instigate changes in clinical practice, this work should be developed further, as it is clear that psychosocial interventions can be successful in treating this population.

This review demonstrates that psychosocial treatments can improve symptoms associated with methamphetamine use. Reduction in mental health symptoms has been shown to attract individuals to drug use treatment and thus indirectly reducing methamphetamine use.

Given the consequences of methamphetamine for individuals and communities treatment options must be explored. A review of psychosocial interventions in the treatment of methamphetamine use and associated mental health symptoms had not been done previously. This review provides a foundation for further research.

This study examined sex differences in the prevalence of mutual intimate partner violence (IPV) and mental health symptoms among Ghanaian university students. Three hundred and fifty‐eight university students in heterosexual relationships were asked if they had experienced IPV, coercion, and symptoms of depression or post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as attitudes on the use of violence. Analyses were conducted separately for female and male respondents to explore sex differences in mutual violence and correlates of partner violence and mental health symptoms. Bivariate analyses found that both males and females reported strong correlations between IPV perpetration and IPV victimisation. Multivariate analyses found that among female respondents, their coercive behaviours, attitudes that accept violence and alcohol use were related to perpetrating against their male partner. Among male respondents, attitudes that accept violence and symptoms of conduct disorder were related to abusing their female partner. Additionally, results were that both females and males reported increased mental health symptoms if she/he reported childhood abuse and if her/his partner had attitudes that accepted the use of violence to achieve goals. Taken together, these findings suggest that the majority of couples experience mutual violence and that both females and males can have violent attitudes that accept the use of violence to control their intimate partners, which may also contribute to mental health symptomology.

The aim of this paper is to examine the temporal sequencing of methamphetamine use and the onset of mental health problems among a sample of dependent methamphetamine users.

The study used a self‐reported timeline method to examine the sequencing of first use, regular use and problematic use of methamphetamine and mental health issues among 126 users with lifetime dependence.

The majority of the sample (69 per cent) reported previous mental health diagnosis or treatment. Of this sample, 22 per cent reported mental health problems prior to their first use of methamphetamine and 72 per cent reported mental health problems after first use of methamphetamine (with the rest around the same time or unsure). On the timeline, mental health symptoms were first indicated around a year after first regular use of methamphetamine and around the same time as problematic use. Respondents identified a lag time of five years between first problematic use of methamphetamine and seeking treatment for methamphetamine‐related problems, but those that received mental health treatment engaged in methamphetamine treatment earlier.

Among this sample, mental health problems coincided with problematic methamphetamine use (rather than any use) suggesting prevention efforts may be better directed at preventing transition to heavy use or use of potent forms or injecting, rather than directed at prevention of uptake. On this basis, stepped care might be appropriate for methamphetamine users.

Despite a substantial research literature establishing the link between methamphetamine use and mental health problems, little is known about the order of onset and the implications of this for treatment. This is one of the few studies specifically investigating the temporal sequencing of methamphetamine use, mental health symptoms and treatment seeking among a sample of dependent methamphetamine users.

Lao PDR is a developing country with increasing female participation in the informal labour market. However, these informal female workers are often emotionally and physically drained due to stress in the workplace. This study aims to examine the determinants of job stress on physical symptoms associated with the mental health stigma of informal female workers in Lao PDR.

A convergent parallel approach was used with 1,037 structured interviews and 15 in-depth interviews between October 2017 and June 2019. Fractional response regression was used to analyse the quantitative data and thematic analysis to analyse the qualitative data.

The quantitative data showed a positive effect on job stress and physical symptoms associated with mental health stigma. The qualitative data illustrated that job characteristics, work environment, time pressure, job control, complexity related to workload, physical working conditions and physical demand were associated with emotional distress, depressive symptoms and long-term self-stigma.

The study findings provide guidance for developing strategies for female workers in an informal economy to help mitigate the impacts of job stress related to physical symptoms and mental health stigma.

This study offers a deeper understanding of the emotional and physical stress experienced by informal female workers in the workplace in Lao PDR, showing that job stress due to the physical workload leads to mental health stigma.

The present study investigated the prevalence of mutual violence, violent attitudes and mental health symptoms among students in Botswana, Africa. The sample consisted of 562 university students from Botswana University in heterosexual relationships. Participants completed self‐report surveys that asked about violent attitudes, partner violence, controlling behaviours, and mental health symptoms. Results were that respondent and respondent partner's violent attitudes, partner violence and controlling behaviours were significantly related, revealing the mutuality of aggression within couples. Males reported higher violent attitudes but were just as likely as females to report controlling behaviours and physical partner perpetration. Multivariate analyses found that violent victimisation (physical and sexual), controlling behaviours and violent attitudes were significantly related to violent perpetration. Violent attitudes of the partner contributed to the respondent's violent perpetration of the partner. Respondents were likely to report more mental health symptoms if they experienced sexual violence and controlling behaviours by their intimate partners. Similarly, mental health symptoms of the respondents were associated with the partner's violent attitudes.