This essay introduces a thematic issue of presenting selected papers from the 2022 McGill Advanced Study Institute in Cultural Psychiatry on "The Fragility of Truth: Social Epistemology in a Time of Polarization and Pandemic." The COVID-19 pandemic, political polarization, and the climate crisis have revealed that large segments of the population do not trust the best available knowledge and expertise in making vital decisions regarding their health, the governance of society, and the fate of the planet. What guides information-seeking, trust in authority, and decision-making in each of these domains? Articles in this issue include case studies of the dynamics of misinformation and disinformation; the adaptive functions and pathologies of belief, paranoia, and conspiracy theories; and strategies to foster and maintain diverse knowledge ecologies. Efforts to understand the psychological dynamics of pathological conviction have something useful to teach us about our vulnerability as knowers and believers. However, this individual psychological account needs to be supplemented with a broader social view of the politics of knowledge and epistemic authority that can inform efforts to create healthy information ecologies and strengthen the civic institutions and practices needed to provide well-informed pictures of the world as a basis for deliberative democracy, pluralism, and co-existence.

This study was designed to examine how cultural values affected mothers' perceptions of internalizing symptoms in youth, comparing Taiwanese and U.S. samples. We hypothesized that mothers' self-reported East Asian cultural values (e.g., conformity, emotional self-control, face culture) would mediate the relationship between their country of residence and perceptions of youth's depressed mood and anhedonia. Participants were 310 mothers from the United States and 294 mothers from Taiwan. All participants responded to questions regarding their adherence to specific East Asian cultural values. Four brief vignettes about a male adolescent experiencing internalizing symptoms were presented to all participants. After reading each vignette, participants rated their perceptions of the adolescent's symptoms. Results from a series of multilevel structural equation models indicated that Taiwan mothers reported more East Asian cultural values (conformity, emotional self-control, face culture) compared to U.S. mothers, which in turn led to rating youth internalizing problems as less acceptable, more impairing, and more problematic to the family, and feeling less proud and more ashamed of the youth. There was also an inconsistent mediation effect of East Asian cultural values on the relationship between country and rating of anhedonia. The mediation pathway was non-significant for the rating of depressed mood. In conclusion, to improve cultural understanding, researchers and clinicians should consider the driving force of the observed between-group differences to ensure appropriate conceptual frameworks in a cross-cultural context. Cross-cultural differences in ratings of youth symptoms highlight the importance of a culturally sensitive approach to assessing symptoms and functional impairment in different cultural groups.

COVID-19 has elicited polarized reactions to public health measures, fueling anti-vaccination movements worldwide which indicate that vaccine hesitancy represents a common expression of dissent. We investigate changes in cognitive (i.e., trust in government, conspiracy beliefs, vaccine attitudes, and other COVID-19-related factors) and socio-emotional factors (i.e., psychological distress and social support) over time, and examine if these factors are associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. A sample of Canadian young adults ( = 2,695; 18 to 40 years old) responded to an online survey in May/June 2021 (after the first vaccination campaign) and then in November 2021 (after vaccine mandates were introduced). Based on survey answers, participants were categorized as "not hesitant", "hesitant", and "do not intend to get vaccinated" at each time point. Results from generalized estimating equation models indicate that vaccination hesitancy decreased over time. The importance attributed to specific COVID-19-related factors (e.g., research and science about COVID-19 vaccines, opinions of friends and family) decreased whereas psychological distress increased over time. Cognitive and socio-emotional factors were associated with vaccine hesitancy, with participants who did not intend to get vaccinated reporting the lowest psychological distress scores. We argue that dissent may be an empowering way for young people to restore a sense of personal agency via the opposition to a system perceived as illegitimate and/or unfair. These results raise important questions about potential collateral effects of top-down government and public health interventions in times of crisis.

Today, in the age of the internet, during recent epidemics such as H1N1, Ebola and Covid-19, it is striking to see how old accusatory scripts are circulated and perpetuated via social media, which serve as new channels for discrimination and blame directed at traditional figures who have been scapegoated at different moments in the history of European epidemics. The article shows how the laundering of information into a cliquey network takes empirical shape during a health crisis. We do so by focusing on VKontakte, a Russian social network similar to Facebook and the 15th largest website in the world in terms of traffic. Using an ethnographic approach to social media, we show how borderline information from an open and easily accessible website is reappropriated, made explicit, and transformed into legally prohibited hate content. It also documents the ability of conspiracy theorists to use the full range of discourse production channels in a country-in this case France-that has very strict laws on hate speech, including that published on social networks. These laws are circumvented by anti-Semitic communities that spread false information in marginal, open and legal networks, thus avoiding legal proceedings.

Recent challenges to scientific authority in relation to the COVID pandemic, climate change, and the proliferation of conspiracy theories raise questions about the nature of knowledge and conviction. This article considers problems of social epistemology that are central to current predicaments about popular or public knowledge and the status of science. From the perspective of social epistemology, knowing and believing are not simply individual cognitive processes but based on participation in social systems, networks, and niches. As such, knowledge and conviction can be understood in terms of the dynamics of epistemic communities, which create specific forms of authority, norms, and practices that include styles of reasoning, habits of thought and modes of legitimation. Efforts to understand the dynamics of delusion and pathological conviction have something useful to teach us about our vulnerability as knowers and believers. However, this individual psychological account needs to be supplemented with a broader social view of the politics of knowledge that can inform efforts to create a healthy information ecology and strengthen the civil institutions that allow us to ground our action in well-informed picture of the world oriented toward mutual recognition, respect, diversity, and coexistence.

There is evidence that Asian migrants in Australia may be relatively reluctant to seek professional help for depression. Reluctance may be related to poor mental health literacy, including limited knowledge of help-seeking options and treatments, and a preference to seek help from informal networks. This study investigated Sri Lankan Australians' knowledge about managing depression by examining their hypothetical help-seeking intentions and perceptions about interventions and help-providers' helpfulness. Following Jorm's mental health literacy framework, participants (= 374) were presented with a vignette of a Sri Lankan Australian exhibiting symptomatology consistent with Major Depressive Disorder, and asked to indicate their intentions to seek help by responding to the question: "If you had Mr Silva's problem, what would you do?". Participants also rated the likely helpfulness of various professional and informal helpers and interventions in addressing a problem akin to Mr Silva's. Participants reported being likely to seek help from GPs (35.8%), psychologists (25.7%) and friends (24.3%). Additionally, those who intended to seek informal help were significantly less likely to seek professional help, and vice versa. Furthermore, psychologists (94.1%), counsellors (93.3%), close friends (92.5%) and compatriots (91.4%) were most frequently categorised as helpful. Given participants' high endorsement of psychiatric treatment, psychological treatment, and self-help strategies such as engaging in enjoyable activities, it would be helpful for clinicians to emphasise the benefits of these interventions for managing depression. Additionally, recognising some participants' inclination towards religious practices and helpers, clinicians can consider integrating these help-seeking behaviours into therapeutic approaches. Future research is warranted to examine the predictors of help-seeking intentions.

The present study examines the links between different types of morality and obsessions in university students from Leuven, Belgium ( = 252) and İstanbul, Turkey ( = 301) using validated scales for morality and obsessions. Belgium and Turkey were chosen as two exemplar cultural contexts expected, and in the current study found, to differ in the relative levels of individualizing and binding morality. We hypothesized that obsessions involving potential (e.g., aggressive obsessions) are cross-culturally associated with morals, and obsessions indicating (e.g., contamination) are cross-culturally associated with morals. Moreover, we expected that cultural differences in the frequency of obsessions could be linked to differences in culturally prevalent moralities. As predicted, contamination obsessions were cross-culturally linked to binding morals. Also, the frequency of contamination obsessions was higher in the Turkish sample compared to the Belgian, which was predicted by higher levels of binding morals in Turkey. Doubts were cross-culturally endorsed at similar rates and were associated with individualizing morals. Aggressive obsessions were relatively more frequent in the Belgian compared to the Turkish sample, however-unexpectedly-these intrusions were not positively linked to either type of morality, neither in Belgium nor in Turkey. Taken together, these findings provide initial support for the role of morality in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), at least for certain types of obsessions (contamination and doubts), as well as suggest that some differences in the moral foundations may play a role in explaining the prevalence of certain obsessions (i.e., contamination).

We investigated the effectiveness of interventions provided by traditional healers for common mental disorders (CMDs) together with associated barriers and facilitators. Electronic databases including MEDLINE, APA Psych Info, Allied and Complementary Medicine, Embase, CINAHL, Social Science Citation Index, and Scopus were searched from inception until October 2021. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) assessing interventions by traditional healers for CMDs and qualitative and mixed-methods studies examining traditional healers and their attendees' views about the treatment of CMDs by traditional healers were included. Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment tool (RoB-1) and Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) were used for the quality assessment of studies. A meta-analysis and thematic synthesis were conducted. Sixteen RCTs (1,132 participants) and 17 qualitative or mixed-methods studies (380 participants) were included. Improvement in symptoms was greater for interventions by traditional healers compared to control groups for both depression and anxiety. Subgroup analyses indicated that only "spiritual passe" interventions showed improvement in depression and anxiety, and participants with co-morbid anxiety and physical conditions showed improvement in anxiety. Facilitators to engaging with interventions by traditional healers were shared faith-based worldview exhibited by traditional healers and their attendees and perceived effectiveness of traditional healing. Stigma and concealing mental illness were found to be barriers not only to formal healthcare but also to traditional healers' services. Interventions by traditional healers such as "spiritual passe" are effective in improving CMDs. However, evidence is still limited due to the low quality of studies and lack of long-term evidence.

Although resilience has been identified as an important mediator of negative mental health outcomes among refugee populations, there are few culturally specific measures of resilience among such communities and no such measure among Somalis. In this study we aimed to develop a culturally appropriate measure of resilience specific to Somali adults in San Diego, as an example of a vulnerable refugee community. A community-based, exploratory sequential mixed method investigation was conducted via focus group discussions ( = 4), cognitive interviews ( = 4), and iterative survey adaptation. Somali refugee adults in San Diego ( = 183) were surveyed with this novel scale, a standardized measure of resilience, and assessments of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Results were analyzed via correlation coefficients and multivariate linear regression modeling. Qualitative findings supported the inclusion of items addressing both barriers and facilitators of good mental health, which resulted in the development of the Somali Distress and Resilience Survey (SDRS). Linear regression analysis revealed that the SDRS demonstrated significant associations with symptoms of depression and PTSD, while the standardized measure of resilience did not demonstrate associations with any of the mental health outcomes assessed. The SDRS identified obstacles to resilience among Somali individuals, placing them at risk of developing negative mental health outcomes. Our novel measure also demonstrated more robust relationships with these outcomes than a standardized measure of resilience, suggesting greater utility of the adapted scale. However, the SDRS's development raises larger questions about the limitations of developing and comprehensively evaluating novel resilience measures in a community-based setting.

Anxiety during pregnancy affects women worldwide and is highly prevalent in Pakistan. The Psychological Outcome Profiles (PSYCHLOPS) questionnaire is an instrument used in therapy to assess patient-generated problems and the consequent functional difficulties. Using the PSYCHLOPS, we aimed to describe the type of problems and the consequent functional difficulties faced by anxious pregnant women in Pakistan. Secondarily, we sought to explore if a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based intervention brought about changes in the severity score for certain problems or functional difficulties. Anxious pregnant women were recruited from the Obstetrics/Gynecology Department of a tertiary hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Of 600 pregnant women randomized to receive a psychosocial intervention for prenatal anxiety delivered by non-specialist providers, 450 received ≥1 intervention session and were administered the PSYCHLOPS. Eight types of problems were identified; worries about the unborn baby's health and development (23%), concerns about family members (13%), and financial constraints (12%) were the most frequently reported primary problems. Severity scores between baseline and the last available therapy session indicated the largest decrease for relationship problems (mean = 2.4) and for concerns about family members (mean = 2.2). For functional difficulties, 45% of the participants reported difficulties in performing household chores, but the intervention showed the greatest decrease in severity scores for mental or emotional functional difficulties. Focus on certain types of patient-generated problems, e.g., relationship problems, could anchor therapy delivery in order to have the greatest impact. Tailored CBT-based intervention sessions have the potential to address important but neglected problems and functional difficulties in anxious pregnant women.

Community reaction to refugees and asylum-seekers is often gauged by attitude surveys that are not designed to overcome built-in bias. Questionnaires that do not account for context and background consequently yield results that misrepresent community attitudes and offer predictably negative responses to immigrant groups. Such surveys can alter public perception, fuel anti-refugee sentiment, and affect policy simply because of how they are constructed. This model survey among humanitarian aid-workers from nine Greek non-governmental organizations uses specific techniques designed to overcome these challenges by applying sample familiarity, non-inflammatory hypothesis-testing, educational question stems, intentional ordering of questions, and direct questioning rather than surrogate measures like statistical approximation. Respondents working in the refugee crisis in Greece demonstrate how empathy, education, and exposure to refugees serve to overcome the harmful stereotypes of outsiders as contributors to crime, terror, and social burden.

Using a cohort of 544 postpartum mothers, 6 weeks to 12 months post-delivery in the largely rural Makueni County in Kenya, we aimed to determine: (1) the prevalence of postpartum depression (PPD) and the prevalence of each of the four domains of intimate partner violence (IPV), that is physical violence, sexual violence, emotional violence, and controlling behavior; (2) the co-occurrence of PPD and IPV; (3) risk factors and associations between sociodemographic variables and IPV, PPD and IPV and PPD co-occurring. We concurrently administered a researcher-designed sociodemographic ad hoc questionnaire, the WHO Intimate Partner Violence questionnaire and the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview for adults (MINI Plus) for DSM-IV/ICD10 depression. The prevalence of PPD was 14.5%; Emotional violence 80.3%; Controlling behavior 74.4% (a form of emotional violence); Physical violence 40.3%; Sexual violence 28.9%. We found the following overlaps: 39% of participants reported both physical and emotional violence; 39% had both sexual and emotional violence; 15% experienced physical and sexual violence; and 15% of participants reported physical, sexual, and emotional violence. Postpartum depression was associated with physical violence during pregnancy, self-employed status, history of mood disorders and medical problems in the child. Further, we report associations between various types of IPV and history of depression, physical violence during pregnancy, low education level, marital status, and current depression diagnosis. IPV and PPD were highly prevalent in our population of postpartum mothers. Various types of IPV were significantly associated with various sociodemographic indicators while only sexual violence was significantly associated with PPD. Based on our results, we provide suggestions for potential interventions in the Kenyan setting.

To support resilience in contexts of migration, a deeper understanding of the experiences of both receiving communities and migrants is required. Research on the impacts of migration on community life is limited in contexts with high internal migration (i.e., migrating within one's country of origin). Evidence suggests that cultural similarity, community relationships, and access to resources may be protective factors that could be leveraged to support the mental health of internal migrants. The current study uses data drawn from a sample of pregnant Peruvian women (251), 87 of whom reported being internal migrants and 164 of whom reported being from the locale of the study (Lima, Perú). The aim was to better understand the social experience of internal migration for both local and migrant women. Inductive thematic analysis was used to examine migration experience and perceived impact of migration on community life. Internal migrants discussed three themes relative to their experiences: motivations, adjustment, and challenges. Experiences of women in receiving communities consisted of four themes related to migration: positive, negative, neutral, and mixed perceptions. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC-22) software was also used to assess sentiment towards migration. Across both analytic methods, migration motivations and perceptions were multifaceted and migrants reported a wide range of challenges before, during, and after migration. Findings indicated that attitudes toward migration are broadly positive, and that there is a more positive appraisal of migration's impact on the community life for internal as opposed to international migration.

Despite the increased heterogeneity of living conditions of refugees in recent years, there is a lack of robust epidemiological data about the relationship between refugees' mental health and their living contexts. The current study aims to compare frequencies of pre-migration traumatic events and post-migration difficulties between refugees living in camps and those living in cities; and to identify the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and factors associated with them. A field survey was conducted among 1,470 refugees living in camps and urban settings of Turkey. The survey instruments included a socio-demographic form, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, the Post-migration Living Difficulties Scale, and the PTSD and depression modules of the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Both PTSD and depression were more common in urban settings than in camps. Both disorders were associated with living context and migration-related experiences. Pre-migration traumas were more frequent among refugees living in cities than in those living in camps, while post-migration difficulties were more common in the refugees living in camps. The living context is potentially a critical determinant of refugee mental health. Camp and urban refugees may have different experiences and needs. In particular, refugees living in some urban settings may be at higher risk for having psychological problems.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an empirically supported psychotherapy that offers promise for the mental health of minoritised ethnic populations. Given the diversity of those presenting to inner-city services and barriers to accessing appropriate mental healthcare, we sought to develop a culturally syntonic ACT intervention for UK Vietnamese refugee communities in a practice-based partnership project between a National Health Service and local third-sector service in East London. The aim was to explore the feasibility, acceptability and impact of the adapted intervention to inform culturally inclusive clinical practice and future research. We outline key aspects of Vietnamese belief systems and culture, and consider how these might influence the optimisation of group-based ACT. We then present a mixed-method evaluation of the seven-session adapted ACT group for 11 participants (9 male and 5 female, aged between 44 and 73 years). Individual-level change analyses indicated clinically significant improvements in psychological flexibility for the minority of participants and a mixed pattern for impact on well-being. A thematic analysis and descriptive approach examined acceptability, feasibility and narratives of impact. Participants reported positive feedback on group experience, relevance and usefulness, and emergent themes indicate that the group facilitated key acceptance, commitment and behaviour-change processes, promoted social connections and increased engagement in meaningful life activities in relation to new perspectives and values-based action. Limitations are outlined, but overall, findings suggest preliminary support for the potential beneficial effect of the adapted ACT group as a feasible, culturally acceptable therapeutic approach for UK Vietnamese communities that is worthy of further investigation.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the challenging working conditions of healthcare workers (HCWs) in many regions. A considerable proportion of HCWs in Germany are migrants facing additional migration-related stressors. The aim of this cross-sectional web-based survey was to examine depressive and generalized anxiety symptoms among migrant and native HCWs in Germany during the pandemic. We compared 780 migrant (first- and second-generation) HCWs from different backgrounds with 6,407 native HCWs. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to examine associations between occupational and COVID-19 related variables, controlling for sociodemographics. Migrant HCWs from low-/middle-income countries more frequently had clinically relevant depressive symptoms (PHQ-2 ≥ 3) than did those from high-income countries (29.9% vs. 16.7%,  = .002, ϕ = .156) (all other ϕs/Cramer's s ≤ .036). There were no clinically relevant differences in anxiety levels (GAD-2 ≥ 3) between native vs. migrant HCWs, native vs. the individual migrant HCW groups, or between the sexes (all ϕs/Cramer's  ≤ .036). After controlling for key sociodemographic characteristics, native HCWs did not differ from the individual migrant HCW groups on depression and anxiety severity (depression: all βs ≤ |.030|, anxiety: all βs ≤ |.014|). A high percentage of HCWs reported distress, with migrants from low-/middle-income countries reporting highest burden. The results indicate the need to establish prevention programmes for HCWs, with special consideration to vulnerable populations including certain migrant groups.

Chandler and Lalonde broadened the scope of inquiry in suicide research by providing theoretical grounding and empirical support for the role of community, culture, and history in understanding Indigenous youth suicide and reimagining its prevention. Their work pushed the field to consider the intersectional process of individual and collective meaning-making in prevention of Indigenous suicide, together with the central role culture plays in bringing coherence to this process over time. Their innovation shifted the research focus to include the shared histories, contexts, and structures of meaning that shape individual lives and behaviors. We describe here a new generation of research extending their pathbreaking line of inquiry. Recent work aims to identify complex associations between community-level structures and suicidal behavior by collaborating with Alaska Native people from rural communities to describe how community protective factors function as preventative resources in their daily lives. Community engagement and knowledge co-production created a measure of community protection from suicide. Structured interviews with rural Alaska Native community members allowed use of this measure to produce relevant, accessible, and actionable knowledge. Ongoing investigations next seek to describe their mechanisms in shaping young people's lives through a multilevel, mixed-methods community-based study linking community-level protection to protection and well-being of individual youth. These efforts to understand the multiple culture-specific and culturally mediated pathways by which communities build on their strengths, resources, and practices to support Indigenous young people's development and reduce suicide risk are inspired by and expand on Chandler and Lalonde's remarkable legacy.

Despite the success of psychoeducational interventions at improving willingness to seek professional help for mental illness, limited research explores the effect of culturally tailored psychoeducational interventions on African American (AA) college students. The objective of this study was to determine if exposure to a culturally relevant psychoeducational intervention impacted AA young adult attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, depression stigma, disclosure and willingness to seek help for depression. We conducted a one-group pre- and post-test intervention study of AA college students (N = 75). The 2.5-h intervention featured presentations, large-group discussions, videos, and active learning exercises and was guided by applying a cultural adaptation framework to an existing psychoeducational intervention. The self-administered surveys were created using the Theory of Planned Behavior as a guide. Data were analyzed using paired t-tests. A total of 70 participants completed both pre- and post-test surveys. Overall, willingness, attitude, and disclosure significantly increased after the intervention ( < .001). Additionally, depression stigma significantly decreased after the intervention, indicating fewer stigmatizing beliefs about depression ( < .001). Willingness to seek help for depression among AA college students can be improved through culturally relevant and interactive psychoeducational interventions. These interventions can also improve negative attitudes and perceived behavioral control toward seeking help and decrease stigmatizing beliefs. More research is needed to explore the longitudinal impact of culturally relevant psychoeducational interventions and how they may affect actual help-seeking behavior among AA college students.

Cultural identity is associated with positive emotional and behavioral health. However, colonialism and its forces, past and present, have led to cultural loss in many Indigenous communities, contributing to health disparities. And yet, Indigenous peoples actively resist colonialism and work to maintain and revitalize their cultures around the globe. This study sought to understand how Alaska Native university students from diverse cultural backgrounds are presently developing and constructing their cultural identities. Transformational grounded theory methods were used to analyze seven focus groups with 20 Alaska Native university students from diverse cultural regions, now living in an urban center. Results revealed that identity was constructed as a series of nested and intersecting identities that centered on relations, place, and time across cultural groups. Cultural practices and values were often drawn upon to understand identity. Cultural identity was developed through storytelling, experiential learning, connection, personal exploration, and sharing with others. Relatives, particularly grandparents and Elders, and communities played a critical role in shaping cultural identity. The construction of cultural identity and its development diverged by setting of upbringing (rural, urban). Results have implications for the modification of structures and the development of cultural identity promotion programming to support Alaska Native young peoples' identity development in an effort towards emotional and behavioral health.

This essay is an introduction to the thematic issue of in honor of the work of Michael Chandler and Christopher Lalonde, developmental psychologists who made essential contributions to the study of identity and wellness among Indigenous youth in Canada and internationally. We outline their major contributions and illustrate the ways their innovative theory and methods have inspired decades of research, including the recent work presented in this issue, which addresses four broad themes: (1) the importance of a developmental perspective in mental health research; (2) the role of individual and collective continuity of identity in suicide prevention and mental health promotion; (3) Indigenous perspectives on trauma and resilience; and (4) Indigenous knowledge and values as a basis for culturally adapted and culturally grounded mental health services and interventions.

Research on the effects of collective trauma tends to take a psychocentric approach, focusing on the impact of being geographically near the traumatic event (physical proximity) or personally knowing a victim (social proximity). We theorize that this approach falls short in describing the effect of collective trauma among interdependent cultural groups, such as Indigenous Peoples, for whom the self and one's group are inextricably tied. Using a concurrent embedded mixed-methods design (= 545), the current study explores the influence of cultural proximity (having a shared cultural connection to victims) in the wake of a fatal school shooting involving students from both a Native American tribe and a predominantly White city. After controlling for physical and social proximity, student distress behaviors and staff support behaviors, but not staff members' own psychological distress, were significantly higher in schools with higher Native student populations, where a larger proportion of students shared cultural connections with the victims. We discuss implications regarding the importance of providing adequate support for Indigenous Peoples, and interdependent cultural groups in general, following collective trauma.

Research on self- and cultural continuity has contributed to our understanding of resilience processes in Indigenous communities, as connecting oneself to the past, present, and future of one's family, community, and traditional culture has been found to protect against deleterious developmental outcomes. To examine factors associated with self-continuity for Indigenous youth in the current study, Indigenous youth from six rural Ojibway and Métis communities in Treaty 2 Territory completed self-report questionnaires aimed at understanding the relationship between the concept of oneself across time and protective and risk factors at different systemic levels (family, community, culture, and colonial). The concept of oneself across time was measured by self-efficacy (global self-worth) and future orientations (optimism and sense of self in the future). The findings indicated that connectedness to caregivers, siblings, friends, neighborhoods, and culture was associated with higher self-efficacy, seeing oneself as more connected to the future, and seeing the future more positively. These findings support the notion that familial, community, and cultural connectedness are associated positive self-concepts in the present and future, which aligns with our understanding of self- and cultural continuity in Indigenous communities.

Research with Indigenous communities has demonstrated the detrimental impacts of intergenerational trauma and disproportionate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on health and behavioral outcomes in adulthood. A more balanced narrative that includes positive childhood experiences is needed. The construct of benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) facilitates assessment of positive early life experiences and their impact on well-being for Indigenous peoples. We consider associations between BCEs and well-being when taking into account ACEs and adult positive experiences. Participants are from Healing Pathways, a longitudinal, community-based panel study with Indigenous families in the Midwestern United States and Canada. Data for the current analyses are derived from 453 participants interviewed at wave 9 of the study. Participants reported high levels of positive childhood experiences in the form of BCEs, with 86.5% of the wave 9 participants reporting experiencing at least six of seven positive indicators. BCEs were positively associated with young adult well-being. This relationship persisted even when accounting for ACEs and adult positive experiences. While ACEs were negatively correlated with young adult well-being, they were not significantly associated with well-being when considering family satisfaction and receiving emotional support. Evidence of high levels of BCEs reflects realities of strong Indigenous families and an abundance of positive childhood experiences.

In the west, truth is being eroded by post-modernist ideas such as alternative facts. Once truth is no longer valued it is a short route through nationalistic populism to fascism. To combat this we need to establish the idea of 'veritocracy' as a form of government. A veritocracy is a democracy in which truth is so highly valued that promising to tell the truth will become a central feature of politicians' election manifestos feeding back the idea of veritocracy deeper into national culture. A proper understanding of the nature of science can support the idea of veritocracy. This proper understanding will not repeat the mythology of post-World War II philosophy and history of science, but will begin with the much more socially cognisant revolution in our understanding of science that began in the 1960s and 1970s. Nevertheless, a 'wave three' of science studies will justify science, not as a certainty-maker for policy, but as the way to bet in developing the best understanding of the observable world. The key is that science depends on moral truth in its attempts to develop correspondence truth. Science, like the law, should be a 'check and balance' in pluralist democracies and an object lesson in how to pursue truth in decision-making.

Migrant children have repeatedly been shown to underutilize psychiatric services and to face barriers to care, yet few studies have examined the experience of migrant parents who are successful in their help-seeking efforts for their children's mental health. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of facilitators and obstacles to reaching care among migrant parents in contact with child psychiatric services. We explored how migrant parents in Stockholm, Sweden, experienced the process of reaching child mental health services. Participants were recruited from out-patient mental health clinics. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted; qualitative analysis of transcripts was undertaken using thematic content analysis. Parents described a desire to reach services but difficulties doing so on their own. We identified a strong dependence on referring agents, such as schools and child health centers, for parents to gain contact. Informants expressed a high degree of trust toward these agents. Contrary to previous studies, stigma was not described as an obstacle to help-seeking but was recognized by informants as a potential barrier to care had they not emigrated. Although participants in our study had differing educational backgrounds and residency times in Sweden, a common experience of reliance on others for reaching services was evident in the data. Our findings highlight the role of referring agents as bridging contacts between different welfare services. Understanding the specific local resources and services that are available to migrant parents, and strengthening these across different sectors, could potentially help reduce barriers to care.

In the United States, Asian Americans express greater stigma toward those with mental disorders and report lower rates of seeking mental health treatment than do White Americans. However, research on these topics in Filipino cultural groups, especially Filipinos living in the Philippines (i.e., Filipino nationals), is sparse. To support the design of interventions to decrease stigma and improve rates of seeking treatment, we assessed attitudes toward mental disorders and help-seeking in Filipinos. U.S. national (i.e., American) and Filipino national participants completed an online survey containing the Mental Illness Stigma Scale, a Theory of Planned Behavior questionnaire measuring attitudes toward seeking treatment, and queries regarding demographic and psychosocial factors. Filipinos expressed significantly more stigma regarding relationship disruption, interpersonal anxiety, and poor hygiene, alongside increased perceived subjective norms opposing seeking treatment and decreased perceived behavioral control over getting treatment if necessary. We ran a linear mixed effects regression on each nationality separately to identify relationships between stigma and psychosocial factors. For Filipinos, increased parental education predicted decreased perceived relationship disruption and interpersonal anxiety; urbanization was associated with greater trust in mental health professionals, and having a close relative with a disorder led to decreased belief in patient recoverability. For Americans, increased participant education predicted decreased interpersonal anxiety, increased perceived recoverability, and improved perceived behavioral control over getting treatment if necessary, and having a close relative with a disorder predicted improved perceived treatability. The results guide programs for decreasing stigma and increasing treatment-seeking behavior. Limitations, future research directions, and possible interventions are discussed.

Psychiatric rehabilitation for people with severe mental illness (SMI) has many documented benefits, but less is known about cultural related aspects. To date, no comparison of psychiatric rehabilitation outcomes between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs has been carried out. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to compare the outcome measures of Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews consuming psychiatric rehabilitation services. As part of the Israeli Psychiatric Rehabilitation Reported Outcome Measurement project (PR-ROM), a cross-sectional study comparing different ethnic-religious groups was performed. Data is based on 6,751 pairs of psychiatric rehabilitation consumers and their service providers. The consumers filled questionnaires on quality of life (QoL) and functioning, and their providers completed mirroring instruments. The findings revealed that QoL and functioning ratings were lower among Muslim Arabs compared to Jews on both consumers' and providers' ratings. Among Muslim Arabs, differences in outcomes according to the service's location were indicated. The observed differences between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews with SMI in the PR-ROM point to the need for culturally adapted rehabilitation services that take into account how cultural differences may affect the benefits of such services.

Personal recovery, a western conceptualisation that focuses on hope and living meaningful lives of choice rather than focusing on symptom reduction, is a more recent concept in many Asian countries including Thailand. One way to promote recovery-oriented service delivery is to use outcome measures that capture self-reported personal recovery. This study aimed to evaluate a Thai translation of a self-report measure of mental health recovery, the Recovery Assessment Scale - Domains and Stages (RAS-DS). The study also explored the cultural similarities and differences between Thai (  =  190) and Australian (  =  301) recovery experiences by comparing Thai and Australian participant responses to RAS-DS items. Data were analysed using Rasch analysis. Analyses revealed that the Thai version of the RAS-DS had adequate measurement properties. Cultural comparisons suggested that most aspects contained within the RAS-DS appear to be applicable across both Thai and Australian contexts. Three findings suggest linguistic or cultural differences in Thai and Australian recovery experiences: (i) a ceiling effect for Thai participants, (ii) some items were "harder" or "easier" for one cultural group to endorse than the other, and (iii) a few items were "misfitting" for Thai participants.

The current study used the McGill Illness Narrative Interview (MINI) to explore patients' ( = 6) and caregivers' ( = 3) narratives about how they identified and sought care for psychosis. Participants were recruited from an outpatient clinic at the , a public psychiatric hospital in Puebla, Mexico. All participants consented to complete semi-structured interviews in Spanish. Thematic analyses were used to inductively identify common themes in participants' narratives. The results indicated that during the initial symptom onset, most participants noticed the presence of hallucinations but did not seek help for this hallmark symptom. Participants described seeking care only when they or their ill relative exhibited escalating aggressive behaviors or physical symptoms that were interpreted as common medical problems. As participants became connected to specialty mental health services, they began to develop a conceptualization of psychosis as a disorder of aggression. For some participants, this conceptualization of psychosis as an illness of aggression contributed to their ambivalence about the diagnosis. These results can be understood using a cultural scripts framework, which suggests that cultural norms are influenced by collective understandings of normalcy and valorization of behaviors. Implications for community campaigns are discussed.

In many contemporary societies, misinformation, epistemic arrogance, and intergroup conflict pose serious threats to social cohesion and well-being. Wisdom may offer a potential antidote to these problems, with a recently identified Common Wisdom Model (CWM) suggesting that wisdom involves epistemic virtues such as intellectual humility, openness to change, and perspective-taking. However, it is unclear whether these virtues are central for folk concepts of wisdom in non-Western contexts. We explored this question by conducting focus group discussions with 174 participants from the Philippines and Sri Lanka, two countries facing socio-political and economic challenges. We found that epistemic themes were common in both countries, but more so when participants were asked to define wisdom in general terms rather than to describe how it is acquired or expressed in daily lives. Moreover, epistemic themes were more prevalent among Filipino than Sri Lankan participants, especially when the questions posed were abstract rather than concrete. We discuss how these findings relate to the CWM and the socio-cultural contexts of the two countries, and suggest that a question format should be considered in cross-cultural research on wisdom.