Search Results (33)

International policy frameworks, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the WHO Quality Rights initiative, have established dignity as a foundational right in mental health care. However, a significant gap remains between these policy aspirations and the lived experience of service users, often due to risk-averse cultures that prioritize control over autonomy. This commentary employs an interpretive synthesis of international literature (2006–2025) and illustrative case examples, such as the Trieste model and Quality Rights implementation in low-resource settings, to examine the operationalization of dignity-centered care. I argue for a paradigm shift from control-based safety models to relational safety grounded in biographical literacy and positive risk-taking. Key findings highlight that dignity-centered approaches not only improve patient experiences of respect and agency but also mitigate moral injury and burnout among the nursing workforce. Furthermore, as digital mental health tools and AI-driven risk assessments emerge, systems must ensure these technologies enhance rather than automate paternalism. I conclude that realizing dignity-centered care requires a structural and cultural transformation, embedding dignity into clinical protocols, leadership practices, and environmental design to move beyond rhetorical commitments toward measurable, humane standards. Full article

Background: Parental burnout is a state of extreme exhaustion that is detrimental to family life. There is some evidence, albeit limited, that children of exhausted parents are at risk of neglect or abuse. The children’s lived experience remains an underinvestigated issue. This qualitative and participatory study aimed to explore children’s and adolescents’ perceptions and experience of parental burnout, as well as the resources they identify as available to assist them. Methods: We interviewed 24 children of exhausted parents, including children typically developing (n = 17), children with illness/disability (n = 3), and children with learning/behavioral difficulties (n = 4). We used interactive data collection tools, adapted to the participants’ age. The interviews were followed by a participatory validation seminar. Results: We evidenced a high emotional burden experienced by children exposed to parental burden. The children conveyed feeling insecure about what happens, perceiving a mismatch between their own needs and those of their parents, and being afraid both of and for their parents. Conclusions: Our results call for an increased recognition of parental burnout as not only a personal or family problem, but a possibly important societal and public health concern, with implications for child prevention and health promotion. Full article

The global population aged 65 and older is expected to double from 761 million in 2021 to 1.6 billion by 2050. Despite often being treated separately in clinical practice and policy, oral health and mental health are fundamentally interconnected in older adulthood, forming a bidirectional relationship that exacerbates disability, social inequity, and systemic healthcare challenges. This narrative review aims to summarize the two-way relationship between mental and oral health and emphasize their combined impact on systemic health, social engagement, and independence among ageing populations. The bidirectional relationship has profound clinical significance. Untreated oral diseases induce chronic pain and cause social embarrassment, aggravating pre-existing depression and anxiety. Periodontal disease can worsen systemic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and dementia via a shared inflammatory pathway. Conversely, mental health issues—including depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, and the use of psychotropic medications—reduce motivation for oral care, prompt dental neglect, and affect salivary function, deteriorating oral health. Despite clear connections, systemic gaps persist, including fragmented healthcare systems, financial barriers, stigma, lack of awareness, and caregiver burnout. To address these challenges, strategies such as developing integrated care models to unify dental and mental health services, reforming policies to prioritize oral and mental health parity, advocating anti-stigma campaigns to clear the misconceptions, and implementing community-based healthcare programmes to reach underserved older adults are essential. By recognizing oral health as a vital component of mental resilience, societies can transform ageing into an era of empowered well-being, where the mouth–mind connection promotes holistic health rather than functional decline. Full article

Dyscalculia is a learning disability in mathematics frequently accompanied by cognitive, emotional, and motivational challenges. However, the combined contribution of these factors to mathematical competence remains insufficiently understood. This cross-sectional study examined the relationships among cognitive abilities, mathematics self-efficacy, anxiety, burnout, and mathematical competence in a sample of 64 students with dyscalculia aged 10–14 years. Participants completed standardized assessments of intelligence, mathematical performance, mathematics self-efficacy and anxiety, and school burnout. Group comparisons indicated that mathematics self-efficacy, anxiety, and burnout significantly differentiated primary and secondary school students, whereas differences in mathematical competence were not statistically significant. Multivariate analyses revealed that cognitive abilities were meaningfully associated with multiple dimensions of mathematical competence. In addition, canonical correlation analyses demonstrated strong associations between psychological factors and mathematical performance, with school burnout emerging as a particularly salient correlate of reduced mathematical competence. Overall, the findings highlight the multifactorial nature of mathematical performance in dyscalculia and underscore the importance of integrating cognitive assessment with interventions that address emotional and motivational factors, such as enhancing self-efficacy, reducing anxiety, and preventing school burnout. Full article

Disabled people/people with disabilities (DP/PWDs) need allies in general and subject matter specific allies in particular given the many problems they face in their daily lives, as it is, for example, evident in the language of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Numerous actions are required from allies of, for example, DP/PWDs and other marginalized groups. Authentic allies are often expected to take on activist roles, yet activism carries the risk of activist burnout, which in turn places allies at risk of ally burnout. Despite this, ally burnout is rarely discussed in the literature, and, to date, there are no studies that specifically examined ally burnout in the context of allyship to and by DP/PWDs. The aim of this study was to deepen our understanding of the factors and topics that heighten the risk of ally burnout, including both non-disabled individuals acting as allies to DP/PWDs and DP/PWDs acting as allies to others. In this study, our participants included eighty-seven critical disability studies students. Critical disability studies students were chosen because they see themselves as allies of DP/PWDs and want to make a positive difference in the lives of DP/PWDs, including disabled students. We used an online survey using the Qualtrics platform as our tool to obtain the data. Our participants identified many factors that can lead to ally burnout and indicated many actions needed to decrease the danger of ally burnout of non-disabled people being allies of DP/PWDs and DP/PWDs being allies of others. Full article

Burnout among students is a widely recognized concern, yet little research has focused on the experiences of disabled students and even less on the social factors at and off campus that contribute to their burnout. To address this gap, we surveyed 91 undergraduate students enrolled in a critical disability studies course at a Canadian university using an online qualitative survey approach. These students, many of whom see themselves as allies of disabled people, were asked whether they believe disabled students are at risk of burnout and what they perceive to be the causes. The majority viewed disabled students as being at significant risk, and 92% identified the social environment as the contributor. Attitudinal inaccessibility, including discrimination, stigma, and exclusion, has emerged as the leading factor in both university settings and broader societal contexts. These findings suggest that interventions to reduce burnout must address both educational environments and the wider lived realities of disabled students. This study contributes to the limited literature on burnout among disabled students and highlights the importance of ally perspectives in understanding and addressing systemic contributors to burnout. Full article

Pharmacy preceptors often feel unprepared to support and manage underperforming student pharmacists in experiential education settings. Further, there is little guidance on how preceptors can best support struggling student pharmacists with mental health concerns or those requiring disability accommodations. Further, recent literature has demonstrated elevated rates of preceptor burnout when working with difficult students. Resources to address challenging experiential student pharmacist situations were gathered through a literature review and from several offices of experiential education. This toolkit aims to provide strategies and resources to support preceptors working with struggling student pharmacists, particularly those facing mental health challenges and/or those requiring accommodations. Full article

Background/Objectives: Early childhood intervention professionals have higher rates of work-related stress and burnout compared to other health professionals. Furthermore, this is exacerbated by exposure to negative emotions, the stigma associated with mental health, and even the stress experienced by families due to the impact of having a child with a developmental disability. The aim of this study was to determine whether emotional intelligence and empathy were able to predict resilience in early childhood care professionals. Methods: The total sample consisted of 139 people (128 women and 11 men, with a mean age of 32.69 and SD 9.72) who were divided into two groups: high resilience (M = 35.85; SD = 3.64) and low resilience (M = 20.74; SD = 3.84). Results: The results showed significant differences between the two groups in self and others’ emotional appraisal, use and regulation of emotion, perspective taking, and personal distress, with a positive relationship between resilience and all sub-dimensions of emotional intelligence and perspective taking and a negative relationship with personal distress. In addition, a predictive model of resilience in early childhood professionals was found with empathic concern, personal distress, and use of emotion. Conclusions: This study is useful to start investigating psychological aspects related to early intervention and its professionals in order to consolidate a resilient workforce. Full article

Parents of children With Special Needs and Disabilities (W-SND) who require long-term healthcare are at high risk of Parental Burnout (PB). However, most studies have focused on PB among parents of children Without Special Needs (WO-SN). This study aimed to develop a new model explaining PB of mothers of children W-SND/WO-SN. The main hypothesis was that the nexus of correlations between risk factors of PB (severity of child’s disability/challenge, perceived caregiver burden) and protective resources (social support, learned resourcefulness, deep emotion work) will explain the variance of PB of mothers of children W-SND and WO-SN. A questionnaire assessing PB, its risk factors, and protective resources was completed by 352 Israeli mothers of children W-SND (mean age 36.9) or WO-SN (mean age 32.3). The child’s disabilities were communicative, physical, intellectual and developmental. The main results are that mothers of children W-SND reported higher PB, higher caregiver burden, and a higher severity of disability. About 50% of PB variance was significantly explained by the nexus of correlations between selected risk and protective factors. Among all mothers, the more social support they received, the higher their learned-resourcefulness. However, learned resourcefulness mediates the correlation between caregiver burden and PB among mothers of children W-SND. Accordingly, it is important to increase awareness among healthcare professionals regarding the risk factors and symptoms of PB, and to develop workshops on protective resources in order to prevent PB and promote mothers’ well-being. Further research should be conducted among fathers and parents from diverse cultures. Full article

According to the World Bank, the world will not meet the SDG of ending extreme poverty in 2030. Disabled people live disproportionally below the poverty line. Many societal developments and discussions can influence the poverty level of disabled people. This study aimed to better understand the academic engagement with the poverty of disabled people in general and in Canada. To fulfill this aim, we performed a scoping review of academic abstracts obtained from SCOPUS, the 70 databases of EBSCO-HOST, and Web of Science. We performed a frequency count and a content analysis of abstracts containing the terms “poverty” or “impoverish*” or “socioeconomic” or “SES” or “income”. We ascertained how the abstracts engaged with the poverty of disabled people in general and in Canada and in conjunction with keywords linked to a select set of societal developments and discussions we saw as impacting poverty and being impacted by poverty. We also looked at the use of concepts coined to discuss ability judgments and social problems with being occupied, two areas that impact the poverty of disabled people. We found that disabled people were mentioned in 0.86% of the abstracts using the term “poverty” in general and 4.1% (88 abstracts) for Canada. For the terms “impoverish*”, “socioeconomic”, “SES”, and “income”, the numbers were 3.15% in general and 0.94% for Canada. The poverty of disabled people who also belong to other marginalized groups was rarely covered. Our qualitative content analysis revealed that many of the hit-count positive abstracts did not cover the poverty of disabled people. We found 22 relevant abstracts that covered the poverty of disabled people in conjunction with technologies, eight in conjunction with accessibility not already mentioned under technology, eight with intersectionality, seven with “activis*” or advocacy, three with sustainability, two with climate change, and none for burnout or ally. The occupation and ability judgment-focused concepts were rarely or not at all employed to discuss the poverty of disabled people. Our findings suggest many gaps in the coverage of the poverty of disabled people that need to be fixed. Full article

The number of people suffering from diabetes, including type 1, is constantly increasing both in Poland and worldwide. Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease characterized by uncertain prognosis and relapses, as well as permanent, irreversible, and progressive changes in health status. The ongoing disease results in dysfunction or disability, and the patient requires specialized supervision, care, and rehabilitation. However, the success of therapy does not depend solely on the perfection of treatment, but also on the patient’s readiness to change their lifestyle and cooperate with the therapeutic team. The patient’s constant alertness in making therapeutic decisions does not always lead to expected treatment results, and the risk of hypoglycemia associated with intensive insulin treatment depletes the patient’s motivation for treatment, leading over time to the development of ‘therapeutic burnout’ and psychiatric disorders. This narrative review is an attempt to summarize the knowledge and possible future solutions in diabetes type 1 in Poland as well as highlight the importance of comprehensive care, including psychological care, which appears fundamental in a chronic disease such as type 1 diabetes. Therefore, the aim of the study was to present generational changes and psychosocial problems of patients with type 1 diabetes and to identify urgent challenges in diabetic care. Attention should be paid to the deteriorating mental condition of the young generations, who, in the course of diabetes, are exposed to additional psychological and psychiatric health problems. The next generation of patients will require more psychological care, which is why the challenge of the future is to create psychodiabetology centers. Full article

Long-term changes in caregiver burden should be clarified considering that extended post-stroke disability can increase caregiver stress. We assessed long-term changes in caregiver burden severity and its predictors. This study was a retrospective analysis of the Korean Stroke Cohort for Functioning and Rehabilitation. Patients with an acute first-ever stroke were enrolled from August 2012 to May 2015. Data were collected at 6 months and 6 years after stroke onset. The caregiver burden was measured with a subjective caregiver burden questionnaire based on the Korean version of the Caregiver Burden Inventory. The caregivers’ characteristics and patients’ clinical and functional status were also examined at each follow-up. A high caregiver burden, which suggests a risk of burnout, was reported by 37.9% and 51.7% of caregivers at 6 months and 6 years post-stroke, respectively. Both the caregiver burden total score and proportion of caregivers at risk of burnout did not decrease between 6 months and 6 years. The patients’ disability (OR = 11.60; 95% CI 1.58–85.08; p = 0.016), caregivers’ self-rated stress (OR = 0.03; 95% CI 0.00–0.47; p = 0.013), and caregivers’ quality of life (OR = 0.76; 95% CI 0.59–0.99; p = 0.042) were burden predictors at 6 months. At 6 years, only the patients’ disability (OR = 5.88; 95% CI 2.19–15.82; p < 0.001) and caregivers’ psychosocial stress (OR = 1.26; 95% CI 1.10–1.44; p = 0.001) showed significance. Nearly half of the caregivers were at risk of burnout, which lasted for 6 years after stroke onset. The patients’ disability and caregivers’ stress were burden predictors in both subacute and chronic phases of stroke. The findings suggest that consistent interventions, such as emotional support or counseling on stress relief strategies for caregivers of stroke survivors, may reduce caregiver burden. Further research is needed to establish specific strategies appropriate for Korean caregivers to alleviate their burden in caring for stroke patients. Full article

Disabled people face many problems in their lived reality, as evidenced by the content of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Disabled people are constantly engaged in activism to decrease their problems. However, disabled people cannot do all the work by themselves and need allies (who can be so-called non-disabled people or disabled people of a different background to other disabled people) given the many barriers disabled people face in being activists, given the precarious lived reality of many, and given the many problems in need of solving. At the same time, the expectations linked to being an authentic ally of disabled people pose many challenges and stressors and a danger of burnout for the ally. Therefore, the aim of this study was to better understand the academic coverage of allyship and allies in relation to disabled people in general, and specifically the coverage of challenges, stressors, and danger of burnout for allies of disabled people. To fulfill this aim, we performed a scoping review of academic abstracts and full texts employing SCOPUS, the seventy databases of the EBSCO-HOST and the Web of Science. Of the 577 abstracts, covering allies and allyship in relation to disabled people that were downloaded, 306 were false positives. Of the 271 relevant ones, the content of six abstracts suggested a deeper coverage of allyship/allies in the full texts. Within the full texts, two mentioned ally burnout and four mentioned challenges faced by allies. Among the 271 abstracts, 86 abstracts mentioned allies without indicating who the allies were, 111 abstracts mentioned specific allies with technology as an ally being mentioned second highest. Sixty-three abstracts covered specific topics of activism for allies. Furthermore, although searching abstracts for equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) related phrases, terms, and policy frameworks generated sixty-three abstracts, only three abstracts mentioned disabled people. Abstracts containing science and technology governance or technology focused ethics fields terms did not generate any hits with the terms ally or allies or allyship. Searching abstracts and full texts, phrases containing ally or allies or allyship and burnout had 0 hits, ally terms with stress* generated four hits and phrases containing anti-ableism, or anti disablism, anti-disableist, anti-disablist, anti-ablist, or anti-ableist with ally terms had 0 hits. Our findings show many gaps in the coverage of allies and allyship in relation to disabled people especially around the barriers, stressors, and burnout that authentic allies of disabled people can face. These gaps should be filled given that disabled people need allies and that there are many challenges for being an authentic disabled or non-disabled ally of disabled people. Full article

Burnout is a problem within the workplace including in higher education, the activity of activism, and in reaction to experiencing systemic discrimination in daily life. Disabled people face problems in all of these areas and therefore are in danger of experiencing “disability burnout”/”disablism burnout”. Equity/equality, diversity, and inclusion” (EDI) linked actions are employed to improve the workplace, especially for marginalized groups including disabled people. How burnout is discussed and what burnout data is generated in the academic literature in relation to EDI and disabled people influences burnout policies, education, and research related to EDI and to disabled people. Therefore, we performed a scoping review study of academic abstracts employing SCOPUS, the 70 databases of EBSCO-HOST and Web of Science with the aim to obtain a better understanding of the academic coverage of burnout concerning disabled people and EDI. We found only 14 relevant abstracts when searching for 12 EDI phrases and five EDI policy frameworks. Within the 764 abstracts covering burnout and different disability terms, a biased coverage around disabled people was evident with disabled people being mostly mentioned as the cause of burnout experienced by others. Only 30 abstracts covered the burnout of disabled people, with eight using the term “autistic burnout”. Disabled activists’ burnout was not covered. No abstract contained the phrase “disability burnout”, but seven relevant hits were obtained using full-text searches of Google Scholar. Our findings suggest that important data is missing to guide evidence-based decision making around burnout and EDI and burnout of disabled people. Full article

Mental health problems are one of the leading contributors to the global burden of disease. Workplaces provide a valuable and accessible setting for interventions to improve worker health. However, little is known about mental health interventions on the African continent, particularly those based in the workplace. This review aimed to identify and report on the literature about workplace-based interventions for mental health in Africa. This review followed the JBI and PRISMA ScR guidelines for scoping reviews. We searched 11 databases for qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods studies. The grey literature was included, and no language or date limits were applied. Title and abstract screening and full text review, were completed independently by two reviewers. A total of 15 514 titles were identified, of which, 26 titles were included. The most common study designs were qualitative studies (n = 7) and pre-experimental, single-group, pre-test, post-test studies (n = 6). Workers with depression, bipolar mood disorder, schizophrenia, intellectual disability, alcohol and substance abuse, stress and burnout were included in the studies. The participants were mostly skilled and professional workers. A wide variety of interventions were offered, of which, most were multi-modal. There is a need to develop multi-modal interventions in partnership with stakeholders, particularly for semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Full article