Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mental Health Problems Among Elementary School Students Mandated To E-Learning: A Covid-19 Rapid Review Caveatmandated To E-Learning: A Covid-19 Rapid Review Caveat, Renee M. D'Amore, Angelina N. Halpern, Lauren R. Reed, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

Extended lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic mandated millions of students worldwide to e- learning and by default made many of their parents proxy homeschool teachers. Preliminary anecdotal, journalistic and qualitative evidence suggested that elementary school children and their parents were probably most vulnerable to this stressor and most likely to experience mental health problems because of it. We responded with a rapid review of 15 online surveys to estimate the magnitude of such risks and their predictors between 2020 and 2021. The pooled relative risk of mental health problems among school children and their parents was substantial (RR = 1.97). …

Virtual Versus Face-To-Face Cognitive Behavioral Treatment Of Depression: Meta-Analytic Test Of A Noninferiority Hypothesis And Men’S Mental Health Inequities, Carly M. Charron, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

Global rates of depression have increased significantly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear how the recent shift of many mental health services to virtual platforms has impacted service users, especially for the male population which are significantly more likely to complete suicide than women. This paper presents the findings of a rapid meta-analytic research synthesis of 17 randomized controlled trials on the relative efficacy of virtual versus traditional face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in mitigating symptoms of depression. Participants’ aggregated depression scores were compared upon completion of the therapy (posttest) and longest follow-up measurement. The results …

Online Social Networking Among Clinically Depressed Young People: Scoping Review Of Potentially Supportive Or Harmful Behaviors, Carolyn L. Elias, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

Online social networking sites are ubiquitous and prevalently used by young people. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the potential for such sites to bring isolated people together to support their mental health. Virtual communications, however, are not without risks. Substantial knowledge exists on attendant risks and protections among the general population, but much less seems known about their effects among clinical populations. This scoping review mapped the novel knowledge and knowledge gaps related to online social networking experiences and perceptions of depressed young people, adolescents to emergent adults. It also explored moderators of their social networking supports versus harms. A broad …

Relative Effectiveness Of Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy With Anxious Or Depressed Young People: Rapid Review And Meta-Analysis, Shikara T. Howes, Kevin M. Gorey, Carly M. Charron

Social Work Publications

Global estimates suggest that 25% and 20% of youth have reported elevated symptoms of depression and anxiety, respectively, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to baseline functioning (Racine et al., 2021). Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been found to significantly benefit young people experiencing anxiety and depression (Christ et al., 2020). Pandemic-related protocols have led many mental health services to shift to online platforms. We wondered about the comparative efficacy of online versus offline CBT for young people between the ages of 10-25. We responded with a rapid review and meta-analysis of eight randomized controlled trial outcomes. The …

Relative Effectiveness Of Mindfulness And Cognitive Behavioral Interventions For Anxiety Disorders: Meta-Analytic Review, Samina K. Singh, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

Increasingly popular mindfulness intervention innovations seem demonstrably effective in alleviating anxiety among people with anxiety disorders. However, the basis of such primary and synthetic evidence has, for the most part, been comparisons with non-active comparison conditions such as waiting lists. The longest-standing and strongest evidence-informed practices in this field have been cognitive behavioral interventions (CBI). This meta-analysis synthesized evidence from nine randomized trials of the relative effectiveness of mindfulness interventions compared to CBIs (i.e., active control groups) in treating anxiety disorders. The sample-weighted synthesis found no statistically or practically significant differences between the two groups on anxiety alleviation: Cohen’s d …

Delinquency And Crime Prevention: Overview Of Research Comparing Treatment Foster Care And Group Care, Gershon K. Osei, Kevin M. Gorey, Debra M. Hernandez Jozefowicz

Social Work Publications

Background: Evidence of treatment foster care (TFC) and group care’s (GC) potential to prevent delinquency and crime has been developing.

Objectives: We clarified the state of comparative knowledge with a historical overview. Then we explored the hypothesis that smaller, probably better resourced group homes with smaller staff/resident ratios have greater impacts than larger homes with a meta-analytic update.

Methods: Research literatures were searched to 2015. Five systematic reviews were selected that included seven independent studies that compared delinquency or crime outcomes among youths ages 10–18. A similar search augmented by author and bibliographic searches identified six additional studies with an …

Group Work As Interventive Modality With The Older Depressed Client: A Meta-Analytic Review, Kevin M. Gorey, Arthur G. Cryns

Social Work Publications

This review analyzes a total of 19 empirical studies dealing with the effectiveness of group work intervention with depressed older clients (65 years and older). Multiple analyses of all outcome data reported allowed for the following summative, empirically derived inferences: (1) overall, group work was found to account for 42% positive change in client affective states; however, most of this improvement (87%) appears to be attributable to nonspecific interventive variables, i.e., factors outside the control and intent of the group worker; (2) group work is optimally effective for clients who live alone and are moderately to severely depressed; (3) client …

Effects Of Surgery On The Mental Status Of Older Persons. A Meta-Analytic Review, Arthur G. Cryns, Kevin M. Gorey, Marion Z. Goldstein

Social Work Publications

The data bases of 18 empirical studies were combined into one comprehensive data set and subjected to meta-analysis. The following trends were observed: (1) surgery has a significantly decompensating impact on the mental status of older persons, and the average effect size observed is modest (r = .37); (2) for all mental status measures included in the review (cognition, delirium and affect), effect size appears to be significantly moderated by patient age; (3) patient sex may be predictive of the kind of mental impairment that is most likely to occur within an older surgery population, with women manifesting a greater …