Childhood sexual abuse as a potential predictor of psychotic like experiences in Tunisian college students

Fekih‐Romdhane, Feten; Tira, Salma; Cheour, Majda

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2019.03.034

Cited by 25 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…This review identifies considerable variation in the types of measures used, but crucially also at the level of analysis. Some have calculated a total score for early life adversities [ 70 ] while more recent studies have tended to separately assess different types of adversity (e.g., physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect: e.g., [ 69 , 81 , 86 ]). Similarly, some studies [ 64 , 66 , 67 , 88 ] assessed several schizotypy dimensions (e.g., cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal, disorganised), some have broken these domains down further into multiple trait subscales (e.g., 8 subscales: [ 64 ]; 9 subscales: [ 69 ]), subscales and total scores [e.g., 88 ] while others have assessed total schizotypy scores only [e.g., 61 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this context, we note that an area of specific methodological weakness has been the lack of control for potential confounding variables. For example, studies rarely screened for existing mental health problems, with only 4/25 (16%) screening for previous or current mental health disorders [ 65 , 86 , 88 , 110 ] and one screened for possible neurological problems [ 71 ].…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We also note that only three studies screened out participants with any personal history of mental disorder [ 65 , 86 , 88 ], another for psychotic disorders [ 110 ] and one screened for a family history of suicide [ 86 ]. There were several studies that did not exclude family and personal history of mental health problems [e.g., 20 , 63 , 66 , 67 , 74 ] or whose sampling did not exclude those with self-declared mental health issues [ 69 ].…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Childhood trauma and schizotypy in non-clinical samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis

et al. 2022

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The association of early life adversities and psychosis symptoms is well documented in clinical populations; however, whether this relationship also extends into subclinical psychosis remains unclear. In particular, are early life adversities associated with increased levels of schizotypal personality traits in non-clinical samples? We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of associations between early life adversities and psychometrically defined schizotypal traits in non-clinical samples. The review followed PRISMA guidelines. The search using PubMed, Web of Science and EBSCO databases identified 1,609 articles in total. Twenty-five studies (N = 15,253 participants) met eligibility criteria for the review. An assessment of study quality showed that fewer than half of all studies were rated as methodologically robust. Meta-analyses showed that all forms of childhood abuse (emotional, physical and sexual) and neglect (emotional and physical) were significantly associated with psychometric schizotypy. The association of schizotypy traits with childhood emotional abuse (r = .33: 95%CI .30 to .37) was significantly larger than for all other form of abuse or neglect. Meta-regression analyses showed that the physical abuse-schizotypy relationship was stronger in samples with more women participants; and the sexual abuse-schizotypy relationship was stronger in younger samples. The current review identifies a dose-response relationship between all forms of abuse/neglect and schizotypy scores in non-clinical samples; however, a stronger association emerged for emotional abuse. More research is required to address the relationship of trauma types and specific symptom types. Future research should also address the under-representation of men.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Childhood trauma and schizotypy in non-clinical samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis

et al. 2022

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“…Higher education increased strongly in Tunisia, with the gross enrolment rate at tertiary level rising from 18.83% in 2000 to 34% in 2014, an increase of almost 1.08 percentage points per year over the period. Previous Tunisian studies found that university students had several mental health problems, including high levels of depression, anxiety and stress (Fekih‐Romdhane et al, 2019; Fekih‐Romdhane, Tounsi, et al, 2020), a relatively high prevalence of suicidal ideation (Fekih‐Romdhane, Tounsi, et al, 2020), addiction problems (Ben Abdelaziz et al, 2018; El Mhamdi et al, 2017; Mellouli et al, 2018), eating disorders (Masmoudi et al, 2014), and high rates of psychotic experiences compared to international studies (Fekih‐Romdhane, Sassi, et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge, attitude and behaviours toward mental illness and help‐seeking in a large nonclinical Tunisian student sample

Fekih‐Romdhane

Chebbi

Sassi

et al. 2020

Early Intervention Psych

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Background Mental disorders are widespread among students. However, mental health help‐seeking remains low. Several reviews and meta‐analyses have shown that the main barrier to seeking help from mental health professionals is stigma. This paper aimed to assess stigma in a sample of students, and its association with help‐seeking intentions and comfort with disclosing a mental illness. Method The ‘Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill’, the ‘Mental Health Knowledge Schedule’, and the ‘Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale’ were administered to a total of 714 college students (62.2% female; mean age = 20.9). Results We found that 43.8% of students agreed that one of the main causes of mental illness is a lack of self‐discipline and willpower, 21.9% did not consider depression as a mental illness, and 39.6% felt that they would be 'unlikely' or 'very unlikely' to seek the help of a health professional for mental health problems. Females had higher scores in help‐seeking intentions (p < .001) and knowledge of mental illness (p = .019). Students' age negatively correlated with knowledge (p < .001, r = −.147). Pearson correlations indicated that help‐seeking intentions positively correlated with more favourable future intentions of being in contact with a person with a mental illness (p < .001, r = .103) and greater mental health knowledge (p < .001, r = .163); and that comfort with disclosing significantly and negatively correlated with attitudes (p < .001, r = −.125). Conclusion To date, few young people see mental health professionals as a preferred source of support, and action is needed to change this perception or reform mental health services to make them more attractive to this age group.

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“…Despite these data, early identification and intervention for youth who experience mental health problems remain yet problematic (Children’s Society, 2008; World Health Organization, 2008). In Tunisia, prior research has shown that students have high rates of psychotic experiences (Fekih-Romdhane et al, 2019, 2020), hold some stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness, and were not that supportive of help-seeking and mental illness disclosure (Fekih-Romdhane et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes and beliefs of Tunisian High-School teachers about schizophrenia: The impact of vignette gender

Fekih‐Romdhane

Smaoui

Jahrami

et al. 2021

Int J Soc Psychiatry

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Background: Teachers have a crucial active role in provision of mental health services to students and fighting against mental health stigma in schools, hence their attitudes and beliefs toward mental illness should be assessed. Method: We carried-out a cross-sectional study with a non-probabilistic sample of 304 higher secondary school teachers. We used a structured questionnaire in which a vignette describing an individual with schizophrenia was presented, and was followed by a series of stigma-related questions. Results: A substantial proportion of teachers endorsed stressful life events (79.6%) as a cause of schizophrenia, elicited feelings of discomfort (41.4%) and incomprehension (41.1%) with the person displaying symptoms of schizophrenia, and agreed that the person’s condition will deteriorate even more (45.4%). Teachers perceived that the person described in the vignette is dependent on others, lacks will, is different from others and is unpredictable in 65.1%, 59.2%, 55.6%, and 49.7% of cases, respectively. In addition, 38.5% and 34.2% of teachers recommended turning to traditional healers and to a Sheikh or an imam of a mosque, respectively. Regarding gender effects, females with schizophrenia were regarded as more likely to be unable to make her own decisions and to be dependent on others than males, and were less likely to be recommended for seeking help from a family physician or to consult a psychiatric hospital than males. Conclusion: In the light of our findings, raising awareness of teachers of the impact of mental health issues on students should be prioritized in high schools in Tunisia.

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Childhood sexual abuse as a potential predictor of psychotic like experiences in Tunisian college students

Cited by 25 publications

References 52 publications

Childhood trauma and schizotypy in non-clinical samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Childhood trauma and schizotypy in non-clinical samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Knowledge, attitude and behaviours toward mental illness and help‐seeking in a large nonclinical Tunisian student sample

Attitudes and beliefs of Tunisian High-School teachers about schizophrenia: The impact of vignette gender

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