Rationale COVID-19 is likely to be stigmatized. The people of Hubei province perceived courtesy and affiliate stigma due to the geographic linkage to COVID-19. Perceived courtesy stigma refers to the perception of stigma of people who are associated with COVID-19 (e.g., the geographic linkage). Affiliate stigma is the internalization and psychological responses of perceived courtesy stigma among the associates. Objective The current study aims to reveal different patterns of perceived courtesy and affiliate stigma among people who are at high risk of contagion of COVID-19, and to examine the possible risk factors. Method A sample including 2813 adults who located in Hubei Province, China (female: n = 2,184, 77.64%; male: n = 629, 22.36%; mean age = 37.85 years, SD = 6.61 years, range = 18–63 years) were employed in the current study, using latent profile analysis for searching stigma profiles. Results Three profiles of stigma were found: the “Denier” (35.98%), “Confused moderate” (48.13%) and “Perceiver” (15.89%) displaying the low, moderate and high level of perceived courtesy and affiliate stigma, respectively. Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that generally people with a high level of education, perceived threats, anxiety symptoms, and familiarity with quarantined cases have a high likelihood to be distributed into the “Perceiver”. Discussion and Conclusions Our findings highlight the issues of COVID-19-related stigma and provide evidence for launching effective health actions to promote a cohesive society and culture of health. The media can transmit scientific knowledge, promote positive interactions and social cohesion between the stigmatized group and the dominant group, and create spaces for stories that nurture group identification among the implicated people. Future studies should use more representative sample and improve the measures.

TICS is expected to be used for screening populations at risk, and a tool to aid mental health professionals in group-based treatment/intervention planning. It also should be noted that this short inventory should be used with caution for individual decision making.

A survey was conducted on 19,487 Chinese junior school students to elucidate the moderating role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the relationship between parental involvement (i.e., home-based involvement and academic socialization) and junior school students’ performance in school (i.e., academic achievement and school behavior). The data includes 10,042 males and 9,445 females (mean age = 14.52, SD = 1.24). It was taken from the 2013–2014 Chinese Educational Panel Survey (CEPS), that was administrated by the National Survey Research Center at Renmin University of China. The results demonstrate that SES negatively moderates both the relationship between academic socialization and academic achievement, and the relationship between home-based involvement and school behavior. Findings imply that parental involvement activities are highly beneficial for junior school students in families with low SES. Academic socialization is generally associated with academic success, whereas home-based involvement closely relates to school behavior. Future home-based interventions can be developed to promote parental involvement activities in low-SES families. The results also showed important implications for the development of family education in China.

To investigate the efficiency of a single-session character-strength-based cognitive intervention on enhancing freshmen's adaptability. Method: A randomized trial, pretest, posttest, follow-up intervention was employed using repeated-measures analyses to evaluate the effect. This 90-min intervention contained four activities with 52 undergraduate freshmen (age 17-20) randomly assigned to the intervention and control group, 38 of whom completed all the programs (19 of each group). Results: Compared with the control group, the intervention group showed a remarkable increase in well-being and a significant reduction in depression and anxiety at post and follow-up assessment. The stress level of the intervention group significantly decreased only at the follow-up test. Time effect and the interaction between time and group were significant in anxiety and stress. Conclusions: This intervention can quickly reduce negative affect and elevate well-being for freshmen. It expands the role of social worker in the prevention of mental illness among college population.

Social workers contributed significantly to the promotion of public and community health during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in China. Based on a quasi-scoping review of articles on social work practice during that outbreak, this reflective article elucidates how social workers contributed in three chronological stages. In the early stage (late January and February 2020), social workers provided community services offered as part of the governmental structure (moderate information and resource provision); in the middle stage (March 2020), social workers provided services to vulnerable groups alongside supporting the quarantine strategy; and in the late stage (April 2020 onwards), their services were focused on recuperation and recovery after the national lockdown was lifted. In the meanwhile, several issues for public and community health social work as a profession in terms of how it was able to support anti-COVID-19 practices became clear, including a lack of independence and stability, the need for better flexibility and greater ability to act pragmatically and lack of professional agreement. This article aims to enlighten the development of a (re)emerging field—public health and community health social work in China in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

BackgroundFunctional Assessment of Self-Mutilation (FASM) is one of the most widely used tools assessing adolescent's non-suicidal self-injury. However, the Chinese version of FASM (C-FASM) is lacking. The present study aimed to adapt the FASM to the Chinese patients and examine its reliability and validity.MethodsThe original English version of the FASM was translated into Chinese following Brislin's model of cross-culture translation, and then, pilot study and cognitive interview were carried out with 15 adolescent patients to assess the acceptability and comprehensibility of all items. The items were subsequently tested in a sample of 621 Chinese adolescent patients recruited by 20 psychiatric or general hospitals in nine provinces across China. We examined the distribution of responses for each item. Factor analysis, Cronbach's α and McDonald's Ω, intraclass coefficient, and Spearman's rank correlations were deployed to assess the dimensional structure, internal consistency reliability, test–retest reliability, and criterion validity.ResultsThe final adapted C-FASM included a 10-item method checklist and a 15-item function checklist of NSSI, and other characteristics of NSSI. C-FASM exhibited acceptable internal consistency (α = 0.81 and Ω = 0.80 for method checklist; α = 0.80 and Ω = 0.76 for function checklist) and test–retest reliability (method checklist: 0.79; function checklist: 0.87). Factor analysis for NSSI functions yielded a three-factor model with a good model fit. In addition, the instrument showed an expected correlation with the instrument of the Deliberate Self-Harm Behavior Inventory (r = 0.84, p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe C-FASM has good content, structural validity, and reliability. The instrument can be helpful to Chinese adolescents as a comprehensive measure of NSSI behaviors.

Character strength-based interventions are an effective positive psychology approach in increasing happiness and reducing depression. However, little is known about whether the character strength-based interventions remain effective over an extended time period of 1 year, and why these activities (e.g., Identifying signature strengths and Using signature strengths in a new way) work. To address these issues, a 1-year randomized controlled intervention was conducted to examine the serial mediating role of strengths knowledge and strengths use. A hundred first-year students were randomly assigned into the intervention and the waiting-list control groups. The intervention group participated in four activities within a 90-min course and was encouraged to continue self-practice of the strengthsrelated activities after the intervention period. Immediate, short-term (i.e., 1 week), and long-term (i.e., 1 year) effectiveness were examined. Participants in the intervention group showed significant increase in thriving and decrease in negative emotional symptoms in the short term, but no effect was found for the control group. The long-term effects of thriving and negative emotional symptoms were insignificant for two experimental groups. Strengths use partially mediated the effectiveness of the intervention, but strengths knowledge did not significantly predict the outcomes. In conclusion, the character strength-based intervention can be an effective approach to improve the mental health of the first-year students. More attention should be paid to strengths use when practitioners design a character strength-based intervention.

Purpose: This study develops and investigates the changes in anxiety symptoms and quality of life (QoL) among participants of the online Strength-informed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (SACT) across three tests. Methods: A small-scale, quasi-experiment with no control group was conducted. Repeated-measures analysis was employed to assess the changes of the three tests, which were the pre-experimental, post-test, and 3-month follow-up test. A total of 47 adolescents (ages 10–12) completed the 45-min intervention that lasted 10 weeks. Results: Compared with the pre-experimental, the post-test indicated significant anxiety symptoms reduction but not a statistically significant increase in QoL. The 3-month follow-up test indicated reduced anxiety symptoms and improved QoL compared with the pre-experimental. The with-in subject changes were substantial. Conclusions: The online SACT is a promising model to reduce anxiety symptoms and promote QoL among adolescents during the current COVID-19 pandemic, which show both short- and long-term benefit to the participants.