Open University in the Netherlands

BackgroundDecisions about disclosing mental health issues can be difficult, especially in the university setting. For this reason, students and staff of universities might benefit from decision support tools, such as the use of a decision aid. Currently, little is known about if and how people in this setting disclose and how decision support should look like. This study aims to address this gap by exploring disclosure experiences and preferences for support.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with staff (n = 10) and students (n = 10), including participants who decided to (not) disclose their mental health condition. The participants were asked to complete a short questionnaire. Subsequently, they were interviewed about the decision to disclose and their needs regarding a potential disclosure decision aid. Interviews were analyzed using the Framework method.ResultsMost students chose not to disclose, whereas most staff did. Students and staff described advantages and disadvantages of disclosing. Reported advantages included support, relief, understanding, and safety. Risks included (fear of) stigmatization and career concerns. Not disclosing can prevent unwanted questions but can also lead to misunderstandings. Regarding decision support, both students and staff preferred a brief online tool.ConclusionIn conclusion, both students and staff encounter challenges when it comes to deciding whether to disclose their mental health status. A decision aid can be a valuable tool to support them in making their decision.

ABSTRACT The study investigates how maladaptive mistrust cognitive schemas and COVID-19 related rumination contribute to depression and anxiety among teachers. Using survey data from 1010 Romanian teachers, the authors tested a mediation model with COVID-19 rumination explaining the association between mistrust schemas and psychological vulnerability in teachers. Additionally, they explored the moderating role of social acceptance and peer support. Results showed that mistrust is positively associated with anxiety and depression, partially mediated by COVID-19 rumination. Importantly, social acceptance weakened the association between mistrust and rumination, while peer support reduced the impact of rumination on depression and anxiety. These findings show that supportive and accepting work environments buffer the negative effects of dysfunctional cognition and stress-related rumination during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study underscores the importance of social resources in safeguarding teachers’ mental health during crisis situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract Background: Mycotic aneurysms (MAs) are rare, life-threatening vascular complications of systemic infections that are most commonly associated with endocarditis. While the majority of research has focused on ruptured MAs, the role of endovascular treatment (EVT) in managing unruptured cases remains unclear. Given the limited availability of data specific to unruptured MAs, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the outcomes of EVT in this subgroup, with a focus on technical success, follow-up occlusion, complications, functional outcomes, and mortality. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science to identify studies reporting outcomes of EVT in unruptured MAs. Screening and full-text review were performed via Rayyan AI, and data extraction was conducted via Microsoft Excel. We included studies that explicitly reported outcomes for unruptured cases, and a proportional meta-analysis was performed via a random-effects model in R 4.4.2, with publication bias assessed via a funnel plot. Results: A total of eight studies with 43 unruptured mycotic aneurysms met the inclusion criteria. EVT demonstrated excellent procedural success, whereas endovascular procedures achieved universal technical success and complete occlusion at follow-up (both 100%; 95% CI: 95–100%). Complications were rare, occurring in only 4% of the patients (95% CI: 0–17%). The functional outcomes were favorable, with 90% of patients achieving mRS 0 or GOS 5 at follow-up (95% CI: 74–100%), indicating a high likelihood of preserved neurological function posttreatment. No mortality was reported among the unruptured patients (0%, 95% CI: 0–13%), further supporting the safety profile of EVT in this patient population. Conclusion: EVT appears to be a safe and effective treatment for unruptured mycotic aneurysms, with high technical and angiographic success rates, low complication rates, and favorable functional outcomes. However, data on unruptured cases remain scarce, as most of the available literature has focused primarily on ruptured MAs. This underscores the need for larger studies and prospective data collection to better define the role of EVT in managing these rare lesions.

Since the space domain becomes increasingly important for modern military operations, real-time data and context driven knowledge need to be accounted in their execution. At the same time, equally important is the integration of intelligent, adaptive, and robust methods and models that merge human expertise and the capabilities of the AI systems in order to accomplish shared goals. On this behalf, a computational ontology is introduced in this research for modelling human-AI teaming in military space operations, by providing a framework to represent and reason about individual agents, the team formed by these agents as a collective agent, and account socio-technical aspects such as autonomy, feedback, trust, relationships, and behaviors. To this end, the Design Science Research methodological approach is taken guided by the Knowledge Representation and Reasoning domain principles to build the proposed model as a contribution that supports the ongoing development of responsible and trustworthy AI solutions aimed at effective and ethical decision-making in the military domain.

As gaming evolves into a global phenomenon, significant progress has been made in enhancing player experiences and fostering community engagement. However, player harassment remains a pressing issue, with 76% of U.S. players reporting experiences of toxicity in 2023, negatively impacting both individuals and the broader gaming community. Text and voice communication are often successfully monitored, but moderation methods for in-game writing—mainly discussed in scientific literature—rely on invasive client-side tools. These tools use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) models trained for specific writing styles, limiting their applicability across diverse gaming environments. To address this challenge, we propose a novel approach for real-time detection of visual in-game text by analyzing gameplay data directly on the server. Our platform-agnostic method, PASSWorD, reconstructs text as point clouds to decouple it from the game visuals and employs readily available OCR models to recognize written text independent of visual noise and game genre. By finding the ideal camera position, we enhance the accuracy of text reconstruction, allowing for various writings and distortions to be effectively interpreted. Additionally, we explore the combination of multiple OCR models to improve recognition rates in different contexts. In our experiments, PASSWorD achieves a true positive rate of 95.24% and a true negative rate of 98.84%, which significantly surpasses detection methods operating directly on game visuals. As a result, PASSWorD can help game developers reduce toxicity by using gameplay data in their detection systems to remove harmful text or ban players, thereby providing effective moderation tools that create safer gaming environments and foster a more positive and inclusive community.

ABSTRACT Background Noise-induced hearing loss is both irreversible and preventable. However, only a minority of adolescents and young adults engage in hearing protective behaviors (HPBs) that reduce their exposure to noise, such as wearing earplugs at music venues. To promote HPBs it is imperative to know the most influential, and potentially modifiable, psychological factors that in this age group stimulate or hinder these protective behaviors. Objective The present study aims to offer a systematic literature overview of psychological correlates of HPBs in persons aged 12 to 25 years, and identify the correlates with most potential as behavioral intervention targets. Conclusions A total of 82 studies were included in the present review, of which data of 24 studies could be used to assess the strength of the association between one or more psychological factors and HPB. Heterogeneity between studies hindered synthesis. In particular, psychological constructs and HPBs were rarely defined and measured in a uniform manner. Studies were further characterized by a lack of research on psychological factors related to other HPBs than earplug use, such as sound volume control (e.g. the use of a volume limiter). Due to this relative absence of data, associations could not be assessed for specific HPB, and HPBs were aggregated in one variable. Taking into account both the strength of their associations with HPB and their univariate distributions, five psychological factors possessed the greatest potential as behavioral intervention targets: attitude toward recreational noise, perceived barriers, capacity, perceived norms, and perceived threat susceptibility. These results can help the development of new interventions. Additional research is however needed.

Objective When losing weight, many individuals make healthy changes in their exercise and dietary behavior. However, maintaining these changes is often found to be challenging. To prevent individuals from lapsing, insight into predictors of lapse in exercise and dietary behavior is needed. Methods and measures An ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study amongst Dutch adults trying to lose weight was performed. Adults (N = 81) participated in two seven-day EMA weeks. Participants received six semi-random prompts a day, at which they indicated whether a lapse had occurred and responded to questions assessing emotional states, stress, hunger, coping self-efficacy and recovery self-efficacy. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine associations with lapse. Results For exercise behavior, significant associations were observed between feeling hungry (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.01–1.29) and an increased risk of lapsing, and between feeling relaxed (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.72–0.95), coping self-efficacy (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.62–0.75) and recovery self-efficacy (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.69–0.89), and a reduced risk of lapsing. For dietary behavior, significant associations were observed between coping self-efficacy (OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.76–0.86) and recovery self-efficacy (OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.76–0.86), and a reduced risk of lapsing. Conclusion Practitioners and intervention programs promoting sustainable physical activity and dietary change should focus on enhancing individuals’ self-efficacy, for which coping planning and cognitive restructuring could be efficacious techniques.

Forecast value added (FVA) analysis is commonly used to measure the improved accuracy and bias achieved by judgmentally modifying system forecasts. Assessing the factors that prompt such adjustments, and their effect on forecast performance, is important in demand forecasting and planning. To address these issues, we collected the publicly available data on around 147,000 forecasts from six studies and analysed them using a common framework. Adjustments typically led to improvements in bias and accuracy for only just over half of stock keeping units (SKUs), though there was variation across datasets. Positive adjustments were confirmed as more likely to worsen performance. Negative adjustments typically led to improvements, particularly when they were large. The evidence that forecasters made effective use of relevant information not available to the algorithm was weak. Instead, they appeared to respond to irrelevant cues, or those of less diagnostic value. The key question is how organizations can improve on their current forecasting processes to achieve greater forecast value added. For example, a debiasing procedure applied to adjusted forecasts proved effective at improving forecast performance.

IntroductionChildhood trauma (CT) and bullying have been shown to be associated with autistic traits (AT) and to mediate the relationship between AT and psychotic experiences (PEs). Understanding how different childhood adversity subtypes influence distinct domains of PEs can provide important insights for preventing PEs in individuals with high AT.ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate the impacts of childhood adversity subtypes on the relationship between AT and PEs in a general population twin sample.MethodsWe analyzed data on 792 twins and siblings from the first wave of the TwinssCan Project, a longitudinal general population twin cohort. AT were measured using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), and PEs using the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) which consists of three subscales (positive, negative and depressive). CT subtypes were assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), evaluating emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, as well as emotional and physical neglect. Bullying was assessed using the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire (RBQ). Multilevel linear regression analyses were conducted. Positive, negative, and depressive PEs were regarded as the dependent variables, interactions of CT subtypes and bullying with total AQ were regarded as independent variables in separate models. All models were adjusted for age and sex. Bonferroni correction (p<0.008) was applied for multiple comparisons.ResultsThe mean of the age of the participants was 17.5 ± 3.6 years and 60.2% of the sample was female. Emotional abuse (B = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.15), physical abuse (B = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.07 to 0.22), sexual abuse (B = 0.10, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.16), emotional neglect (B = 0.05, 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.09) and physical neglect (B = 0.07, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.11) significantly moderated the positive relationship between AT and positive PEs. However, only emotional abuse uniquely moderated the relationship between AT and both negative and depressive PEs (B = 0.09, 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.13; B = 0.09, 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.14) with physical neglect showing a trend toward significance for depressive PEs (B = 0.08, 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.13). Bullying did not moderate any domain of PEs.ConclusionsEmotional abuse may play a unique role in moderating the relationship between AT and PEs, affecting all domains of psychosis expression. Conversely, other forms of CT predominantly influence positive PEs. Further research is needed to clarify the distinct pathways through which distinct types of childhood adversity impact the association between AT and PEs.Disclosure of InterestM. Karaçam Doğan: None Declared, T. Prachason: None Declared, B. Lin: None Declared, L.-K. Pries: None Declared, A. Arias-Magnasco: None Declared, R. Bortoletto: None Declared, C. Menne-Lothmann: None Declared, J. Decoster: None Declared, R. van Winkel: None Declared, D. Collip: None Declared, P. Delespaul: None Declared, M. De Hert: None Declared, C. Derom: None Declared, E. Thiery: None Declared, N. Jacobs: None Declared, J. van Os: None Declared, B. Rutten: None Declared, N. Brondino : None Declared, M. Colizzi Consultant of: GW Pharma Limited, GW Pharma Italy SRL and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Limited, outside of this work. , L. Fusar-Poli: None Declared, S. Guloksuz: None Declared