The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented. The pandemic not only induced a public health crisis, but has led to severe economic, social, and educational crises. Across economies and societies, the distributional consequences of the pandemic have been uneven. Among groups living in vulnerable conditions, the pandemic substantially magnified the inequality gaps, with possible negative implications for these individuals' long-term physical, socioeconomic, and mental wellbeing.
Background: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health have been understudied among vulnerable populations, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected settings. We aimed to analyse how the pandemic is related to early changes in mental health and parenting stress among caregivers, many of whom are internally displaced persons (IDP), in a conflict-affected setting in Colombia. Methods: For this cohort study, we used longitudinal data from a psychosocial support programme in which 1376 caregivers were randomly assigned across four sequential cohorts.
Background: COVID-19 spread rapidly in Brazil despite the country's well established health and social protection systems. Understanding the relationships between health-system preparedness, responses to COVID-19, and the pattern of spread of the epidemic is particularly important in a country marked by wide inequalities in socioeconomic characteristics (eg, housing and employment status) and other health risks (age structure and burden of chronic disease).
Climate change is the most critical public health crisis of the 21st century. Physical and medical sequelae of climate and weather-related events are well documented and may be addressed in clinical practice. Mental health impacts of climate change are increasingly addressed in the literature but remain underrecognized by clinicians. This report focuses on mental health impacts of climate change through the theoretical framework of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
An innovative approach towards the holistic and multidisciplinary study of the victimization of women by drug-facilitated sexual assault has been developed. This phenomenon constitutes a significant problem given the narrowing of the gender gap in drug use over the last few decades and the widespread presence of psychoactive substances worldwide. As violence against women and drug misuse intersect in this phenomenon, this intersectional nature emphasizes the need for a novel approach that enables us to go beyond the studies carried out to date.
Nurse practitioners (NPs) have key roles in addressing health consequences of climate change across the lifespan for patients, families, communities, and populations. The role of the NP in the health and well-being of vulnerable populations is critical in understanding the deleterious consequences of climate change. Older adults are considered a vulnerable population for health challenges in our climate-changing world. The link between climate and health via a systems approach includes engaging in health assessment, physical examination, differential diagnoses, and plans for interventions.
Energy insecurity is a multi-dimensional construct that describes the interplay between physical conditions of housing, household energy expenditures and energy-related coping strategies. The present study uses an adapted grounded theory approach based on in-depth interviews with 72 low-income families to advance the concept of energy insecurity. Study results illustrate the layered components of energy insecurity by providing rich and nuanced narratives of the lived experiences of affected households.
The health impacts of exposure to summertime heat are a significant problem in New York City (NYC) and for many cities and are expected to increase with a warming climate. Most studies on heat-related mortality have examined risk factors at the municipal or regional scale and may have missed the intra-urban variation of vulnerability that might inform prevention strategies.
