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Most homeless individuals considered economic problems to be the cause of their homelessness; however, difficulties with human relationships were also important factors and were more difficult for participants to acknowledge. Furthermore, these difficulties were exacerbated among those individuals with mental problems.

BackgroundWhile the prevalence of mental illness or cognitive disability is higher among homeless people than the general population in Western countries, few studies have investigated its prevalence in Japan or other Asian countries. The present study conducted a survey to comprehensively assess prevalence of mental illness, cognitive disability, and their overlap among homeless individuals living in Nagoya, Japan.MethodsParticipants were 114 homeless individuals. Mental illness was diagnosed based on semi-structured interviews conducted by psychiatrists. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III, simplified version) was used to diagnose intellectual/ cognitive disability.ResultsAmong all participants, 42.1% (95% CI 33.4–51.3%) were diagnosed with a mental illness: 4.4% (95% CI 1.9–9.9%) with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder, 17.5% (95% CI 11.6–25.6%) with a mood disorder, 2.6% (95% CI 0.9–7.5%) with an anxiety disorder, 14.0% (95% CI 8.8–21.6%) with a substance-related disorder, and 3.5% (95% CI 1.4–8.8%) with a personality disorder. Additionally, 34.2% (95% CI 26.1–43.3%) demonstrated cognitive disability: 20.2% (95% CI 13.8–28.5%) had mild and 14.0% (95% CI 8.8–21.6%) had moderate or severe disability. The percent overlap between mental illness and cognitive disability was 15.8% (95% CI 10.2–23.6%). Only 39.5% (95% CI 26.1–43.3%) of the participants were considered to have no psychological or cognitive dysfunction. Participants were divided into four groups based on the presence or absence of mental illness and/or cognitive disability. Only individuals with a cognitive disability reported a significant tendency toward not wanting to leave their homeless life.ConclusionThis is the first report showing that the prevalence of mental illness and/or cognitive disability among homeless individuals is much higher than in the general Japanese population. Appropriate support strategies should be devised and executed based on the specificities of an individual’s psychological and cognitive condition.

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Aims/Introduction The diabetes status of homeless people has not been elucidated because of the limited access to this population. We carried out a survey of the prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes among homeless men in Nagoya, Japan, and assessed the associations between diabetes prevalence and sociodemographic characteristics. Materials and Methods Interviews relating to individuals’ sociodemographic background, mental illness and cognitive ability, and blood sampling were carried out for 106 homeless men (mean age 54.2 ± 12.7 years). Diabetes, prediabetes and normoglycemia were diagnosed according to the individual's hemoglobin A1c level: ≥6.5%, 6.4–6.0% and ≤5.9%, respectively. Mental illness and cognitive disability were diagnosed using the Mini‐International Neuropsychiatric Interview and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale‐ III , respectively. Associations between the prevalence of diabetes/prediabetes and mental illness/cognitive disability or sociodemographic background were analyzed using the χ 2 ‐test. Results Seven (6.6%) and 12 (11.3%) participants were diagnosed as having diabetes and prediabetes, respectively, which was a similar trend to that of general populations in Japan National Health and Nutrition Survey data. There was a significant difference in the prediabetes prevalence between groups with and without a history of having social support; however, no significant associations were found between the diabetes/prediabetes prevalence and mental illness/cognitive ability or participants’ sociodemographic background. Conclusions The incidence of diabetes in Japanese homeless men was similar to that in the general population, and the prediabetes incidence was lower in the group with social support than in that without. Early intervention for preventing diabetes and social support that focuses on diabetes management is important for homeless people.

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is continuing unabated in Japan, as of October 2021. We aimed to compare first-year university students’ psychological distress before the pandemic in 2019, during the pandemic in 2020, and one year after the onset of the pandemic, in 2021. Methods The study conducted online surveys over three years from April to May each year. Participants were 400 first-year students in 2019, 766 in 2020, and 738 in 2021. We examined differences in scores on the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms—Japanese version (CCAPS-Japanese) between the three years using a one-way analysis of variance, and differences in the CCAPS-Japanese critical items using chi-squared test and residual analysis. Results The average scores on the Depression and Generalized Anxiety subscale in 2021 were significantly higher than those in 2020, but remained the same as in 2019. The Academic Distress subscale score in 2020 was the worst compared to 2019 and 2021. Meanwhile, the number of students who experienced severe suicidal ideation increased year by year from 2019 to 2021. Conclusion The mean mental health of first-year university students worsened after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and recovered to the pre-pandemic level over the next two years. However, the number of high-risk students with suicidal ideation continued to increase. A system is required for early detection and support for students at high risk of mental health issues.

There is currently no reliable and valid multidimensional instrument for measuring psychological symptoms among Japanese university students. The purpose of this pilot study was to translate the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms-62 (CCAPS-62) into Japanese and evaluate its validity and reliability. Following robust translation procedures, the CCAPS-Japanese was created. In the validation study, 2,758 undergraduate students from 11 universities (mean age = 19.08 ± 1.85 years) completed the CCAPS-Japanese. The results of confirmatory factor analysis supported the theoretical eight-factor structure model of the CCAPS-Japanese with the exclusion of seven items. The decision to retain/remove items was made by evaluating factor loadings and model fit indices while considering cultural equivalence and structural validity. Using the finalized 55-item CCAPS-Japanese, further analyses demonstrated that the eight subscales had acceptable to good internal consistencies (α = .61-.89). Thus, the tool's validity and reliability were established.The CCAPS-Japanese may be appropriate for assessing the psychological concerns of Japanese university students.

BackgroundThe WHO reported the gap between the need for treatment and its provision is huge in low- and middle-income countries. It is estimated there are lots of burden to obtain treatment in these countries. This survey intended to show the delay of their first visit to a psychiatric department and the factors that influence the delay. To elucidate the factors affecting medical accessibility for people with mental illness, we propose the concept of duration of untreated mental illness (DUM), which is the duration between the onset or first symptom of mental illness and the first visit to a psychiatric department or clinic.MethodsParticipants were 109 Cambodian adults (18 years old and up) who had a psychiatric consultation in one of the following hospitals. We analyzed the relationships between DUM and patients’ background; age, gender, economic status, education level, occupation, hospital access, and diagnosis.ResultsThe average DUM of all participants was 34.8 ± 42.4 months, ranging from 0 to 240 There was no significant difference in DUM by difference in hospital, gender, age, hospital access, education level, occupation, or economic status. Only patient diagnosis was related to DUM. The DUM for patients with schizophrenia and epilepsy was long, while the DUM for patients with neurosis and substance use were short.ConclusionTo compare DUM with that of other low- and middle-income countries, DUM of our survey is extremely long. However, those reports were from urban areas within the low- and middle-income countries. We considered our report to include a very important sample showing the condition of psychiatric services in rural areas of low-income countries.