Previous studies indicate that theory of mind (ToM) skills are affected in bipolar disorder (BD). However, findings on the relationship between ToM and social functioning remain inconsistent. This study included forty-one remitted patients with BD and forty-one age and gender-matched healthy controls. In this cross-sectional study, participants completed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) to assess ToM, the Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST) to measure social functioning, the Brief Irritability Test (BiTe) for irritability, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-2) for psychological flexibility, and the Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ) to assess valued living. Hierarchical linear regression and correlation analyses were conducted to determine explanatory variables of social functioning and the role of irritability, psychological flexibility, and valued living. Patients with BD demonstrated lower ToM abilities, psychological flexibility, valued living scores, and higher irritability levels compared to controls. Social functioning was also impaired in the BD group. In healthy controls, ToM performance was associated with social functioning. Psychological flexibility and valued living were correlated with social functioning, indicating that these factors may play a prominent role in functional impairment in BD. While ToM deficits were associated with social functioning in healthy individuals, this relationship was not evident in remitted patients with BD. This suggests other factors, beyond ToM, contribute to social functioning deficits in BD. Further research is needed to clarify these complex relationships.

The COVID-19 pandemic and related social distancing measures disrupted daily life and influenced health behaviors globally. In this study, we aimed to examine temporal trends in health behaviors among South Korean adults from 2017 to 2023 using data from the Korea Community Health Survey. Changes in smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, dietary habits, and healthcare utilization were analyzed across three phases: pre-pandemic (2017–2019), peak social distancing (2020–2021), and post-pandemic transition (2022–2023). Subgroup comparisons were conducted by region (capital, non-capital urban, and rural) and income level (high, middle, and low). Our results showed that behaviors, such as alcohol consumption and physical activity, fluctuated during the pandemic and showed signs of recovery. In contrast, others, such as breakfast consumption, declined consistently. Variations in behavioral changes were observed in the region and income group, highlighting socioeconomic and geographic disparities. These findings suggested that pandemic-related disruptions are associated with long-term changes in health behavior. Furthermore, it highlighted the need for tailored public health strategies to support behavioral recovery and address health inequities.

Stroke survivors experience physical and psychological symptoms. However, long-term symptom prevalence and symptom associations have not been extensively studied. The current study aimed to assess the prevalence of physical and psychological symptoms across four years after stroke and to evaluate the relationship between these symptoms. We conducted a secondary analysis of a prospective, clinical, observational study. Physical (pain, fatigue, and physical impairment) and psychological (loss of interest, depressed mood, anxiety, and worry) symptoms were assessed using the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement Standard Set for Stroke and the Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression and Anxiety three months, one year, two years, three years, and four years after hospital admission. We evaluated the prevalence of these symptoms across time and conducted a network analysis using panel vector autoregressive modeling. Physical impairment and fatigue had the highest prevalence in the sample. Psychological symptoms were also consistently observed, however, at a lower prevalence. There was no reduction in any symptom’s prevalence across the course of four years after stroke. Furthermore, psychological and physical symptoms were associated with each other. Physical impairment was most strongly associated with the other symptoms, and anxiety symptoms preceded depressive symptoms. Thus, despite established follow-up care in Germany, symptoms persisted for years after stroke. Further, the observed symptom associations suggest the need to investigate the impact of physical symptoms on psychological distress. Our findings emphasize the need to prevent and treat persisting physical and psychological symptoms after stroke.

There is increasing interest by researchers and clinicians in behavior change interventions for promoting physical activity in persons newly diagnosed with MS. Ideally, such interventions require the delivery of behavior change techniques (BCTs) based on theory and the selection of BCTs might further require tailoring for this MS subpopulation. The current study examined BCTs preferred by persons newly diagnosed with MS for informing the design and delivery of physical activity behavior change interventions in early-stages of MS. We recruited and interviewed 20 persons newly diagnosed with MS (i.e., disease duration ≤ 2 years). The interviews were conducted online via video conferencing platform and followed a semi-structured script. During the interviews, participants provided opinions regarding an ideal physical activity behavior change program, and the opinions of participants were mapped with the Intervention Functions of the Behavior Change Wheel, BCTs, and BCT groups. Ten frequently mentioned BCTs were identified as preferred strategies for a physical activity behavior change intervention among persons newly diagnosed with MS. These BCTs focused on providing social support, skills and strategies for physical activity performance and regulation, and knowledge on benefits of physical activity in MS. This research provides a refined list of BCTs that can be included when designing tailored physical activity behavior change interventions for persons newly diagnosed with MS.

Latinx individuals who smoke represent a tobacco health disparities group. Yet, limited research has focused on examining dual combustible and electronic cigarette use among Latinx populations. Importantly, Latinx persons who smoke also evince elevated rates of pain problems and symptoms and prior research has consistently linked pain problems and severity to smoking prevalence, maintenance, and behavior. Accordingly, the current study sought to build from the limited work that exists among dual combustible cigarette and electronic cigarette Latinx users comparing levels of pain severity and interference. The current sample consists of 196 adult Latinx daily cigarette smokers (35.48 years old; 39.4% female), of which 72 reported current daily dual use of an e-cigarette. Results indicated that Latinx dual users reported greater levels of pain severity (ηp 2 = .12) and pain interference (ηp 2 = .10) than exclusive combustible cigarette users. The study adds uniquely to the limited literature on the clinical importance of dual cigarette use in relation to pain severity and interference in that pain may serve as an important risk factor for the initiation and maintenance of dual use for increased analgesic nicotine effects.

Adding feedback messages (FB) to self-monitoring (SM) may reinforce behavior change. However, socio-environmental conditions (e.g., limited access to parks or low walkability) may limit one’s ability to respond to FB focused on physical activity (PA). In this analysis, we hypothesized that high neighborhood walkability will positively modify the treatment effect of FB on PA, and residents of high walkability neighborhoods will achieve higher PA levels at 12 months than those in low walkability neighborhoods. The study is a secondary analysis of a 12-month behavioral weight-loss trial. Adults with overweight/obesity were randomized to SM + FB (n = 251) or SM alone (n = 251). SM + FB group received smartphone pop-up messages thrice/week tailored to their PA SM data. The assessment included neighborhood walkability via Walk Score (low [<50] vs. high [≥50]), moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) and step count via Fitbit Charge 2™, and weight via smart scale. We report adjusted linear regression coefficients (b) with standard errors (SE). The analysis included participants who were primarily white, female, and with obesity. In adjusted models, neighborhood walkability did not moderate the effect of treatment assignment on log-transformed (ln) MVPA or steps count over 12 months. The SM + FB group had greater lnMVPA than the SM group, but lnMVPA and steps were similar between walkability groups. There were no significant interactions for group and time or group, time, and walkability. These findings suggest that adding FB to SM had a small but significant positive impact on PA over 12 months, but neighborhood walkability did not moderate the treatment effect of FB on PA.

This study aims to investigate the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents with type-1-diabetes (T1D). We conducted 18 semi-structured interviews including adolescents with T1D (n = 10, 50% female, 15-18 years) and their parents (n = 8, 88% mothers). The main topics addressed were experiences during confinement regarding everyday life, lifestyle behaviors, diabetes management and treatment. We applied thematic analysis to identify common patterns of meanings. Being aware of belonging to a potential COVID-19 risk group caused worries especially in parents which resulted in strict adherence to preventive measures. Information from trustworthy sources regarding the actual risk mitigated the concerns. Digital diabetes treatment was well accepted and experienced as highly usable. The pandemic situation either facilitated or hindered the transition from parental control to diabetes self-management. While some patients managed to improve healthy lifestyle behaviors as their everyday lives seemed more predictable, others had difficulties in adapting to changed daily routines resulting in increased sedentary behavior and snacking. The perceived level of stress was directly associated with blood glucose levels. In conclusion, the implementation of psychological interventions (both for adolescents with T1D and their parents) addressing mental health literacy and media literacy seems to be important to promote positive coping skills for dealing with the pandemic situation.

The COVID-19 crisis in the Philippines posed both physical and psychological threats to health workers. It is vital to determine practices to protect them. This study determined the prevalence of mental health outcomes among community-based health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and examined the association of protective strategies with symptoms of mental health outcomes. A cross-sectional study design was applied to the records of community-based health workers conducted through online psychological assessment by Department of Health - Central Luzon between September 1-30, 2020. Respondents’ age, sex, mental health status, and protective strategies were extracted using ion Form, and analyses were done using OpenEpi. A total of 324 records of community-based health workers were included in the analysis. Ten percent of the respondents present symptoms of stress, 26% anxiety symptoms, and 18% depressive symptoms. The majority of the respondents were using deep breathing techniques, having a constant social connection with family and friends, and engaging in their regular spiritual/religious activities as protective strategies during the pandemic. Engagement in regular spiritual/religious practices was found associated with symptoms of stress through Fisher’s exact test. Participants who engaged in religious/spiritual practices were less likely to report symptoms of stress. Community-based health workers showed evident rates of symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. The majority of the participants engaged in various protective strategies but only engagement in regular religious/spiritual practices was found associated with symptoms of stress.

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are among the most common reasons for admission to psychiatric inpatient units and a large percentage of these patients also engage in substance misuse. Yet, no known studies have examined whether patients with STBs admitted to inpatient psychiatry units are motivated to change their substance misuse and, if so, whether they benefit from MET-CBT for substance misuse while on the inpatient unit. This study assesses the relationship between STB and motivation to improve substance misuse among 321 (61.1% male, Mage = 35.3 years, 59.8% non-Hispanic/Latin White) patients admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit with a substance use disorder (SUD) or substance misuse who attended at least one group MET-CBT session, 50.2% of whom were admitted to an inpatient unit for STBs. Patients admitted for STBs reported greater motivation to reduce substance misuse than patients admitted without documented STB, and they did not differ from patients without documented STBs on the number of MET-CBT sessions attended, or ratings of session helpfulness (which were high). Patients admitted for STBs reported significantly increased motivation to change substance misuse after attending MET-CBT for SUD. These findings indicate that psychiatric inpatients with STBs report motivation to change substance misuse as well as willingness to attend MET-CBT for their SUD.

The adverse effects of multiple health risk factors have been well-documented; however, still understudied are the effects of early smoking in the context of multiple health risk factors. This study aimed to examine the role of early smoking initiation in relation to several health risk factors, including heavy drinking, physical inactivity, and obesity in later life among ever smokers in the USA. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 2006 through 2018 were analyzed. The primary dependent variables were presence of three other risk factors: heavy drinking, physical inactivity, and obesity. The independent variable was the age of smoking initiation. Logit regression models were constructed to evaluate the association between smoking initiation and multiple health risk factors. All analyses were done in 2022. Among US adult smokers, 18.2% started smoking before age 15 (early initiators), 55.9% at ages 15–18 (middle initiators), and 25.9% at age 20 or later (late initiators). Compared to late smoking initiators, the odds of engaging in additional health risk factors increased by 37.3% among early initiators (OR = 1.373, 95% CI = 1.316, 1.432) and 7.7% among middle initiators (OR = 1.077, 95% CI= 1.041, 1.116). Additionally, current smoking was associated with higher odds (OR = 1.369, 95% CI = 1.322, 1.417) of having additional health risk factors compared to former smoking, with one exception: current smokers had lower odds of obesity (OR = 0.566, 95% CI = 0.537, 0.597). Tobacco control programs to prevent adolescents from initiating smoking may have the potential to prevent other health risk factors in adulthood.